Remote Working
Remote working has played an integral part of office life since the first COVID-19 lockdown back in March 2020.
Since then, we’ve all kind of adapted to the now normal, but what we’re keen to discuss with you today, is how as a business you’re fully protecting your digital assets when your employees are working from home.
Read on to find out a bit more about the precautions you should be taking or at least having an awareness of…
VPN’S
It’s imperative that your remote workers aren’t just accessing your internal; business network from the public internet because this can cause no end of problems for you.
By just allowing access into your network from an unsecured Wi-Fi connection, you have no control over who can be exposed to your sensitive business data- and it’s easy to say that not everyone on the internet has good intentions, so don’t allow your business to be targeted.
A way that you can make a conscious effort to protect your internal networks are using a Remote Access VPN for your remote workers to access internal applications…
A VPN or Virtual Private Network creates an encrypted connection between your devices and internal network, by connecting via a VPN your remote employee can still access your internal assets, however, isn’t accessing straight through their home internet connection, which in turn assists in safeguarding your data.
Firewalls
It’s always best practice to make sure your firewalls are up to date, as they are the security device which monitors all the incoming and outgoing traffic, it’s your firewalls that will either allow, or block traffic. The way that traffic is either allowed or blocked is through a pre-defined set of rules, which in turn shields your networks and/or computers from what it deems to be malicious traffic.
Phishing
Phishing campaigns are a great way to test your employees attitude to company security sure your employees are aware of Phishing scams- no one expects to be caught out via email, however it’s still a prevalent way for hackers to strike.
It’s even more prevalent that your employees can unfortunately be your organisations weakest security link.
In addition to advising and educating your remote (and in-office) employees about your security standards, we are pleased to offer you our Phishing Campaigns, which can be targeted to your specific requirements both in terms of content and recipients.
The Phishing campaign will provide you with an insight into your employee’s behaviour and you will receive a report showing you the recipients activity, did they click links? provide information? etc.
BUaaS & DRaaS
You can do everything in your power to protect your data, regardless of whether you have remote employees, however there is always that chance that an attack may happen. Which if it does you need to be safe in the knowledge that you will have business continuity- not to mention a strategy in place to protect your business reputation and your organisation, how can you do this you may ask…
Well, Backup as a Service & Disaster Recovery as a Service are two of our cloud-based solutions that can be called upon in the event of disaster- because it may not always be down to a malicious attack that you find yourself losing- or having corrupt data.
It may be due to human error, server failure or natural disaster such as a flood or a fire at your premises.
Leave the hard work to DIS
With these two solutions you can leave the hard work to us, your data will be backed up and/or recoverable leaving you with minimal downtime and maximum protection, safe in the knowledge that business continuity is at the forefront, and you can worry about one less extremely important factor, your data!
We hope this is an insight to remind you of what you can be doing to keep your digital assets safe, but in addition don’t forget to regularly check-in with your remote employees.
It’s a great idea to arrange a catch up with your team, whether you choose to use Teams, Zoom- or any other video conferencing platform, dialling in and video chatting with your team will mean you’re approachable.
Check in with your team, ask if they need any help, assistance- are they struggling with anything, it’s much easier to have regular face-to-face (or face to screen) meetings where all issues, activities etc can be chatted about and changes made to suit both parties before they turn into massive issues that you’re both worrying about!
It’s also a great option to have regular team meetings, to keep in touch with your team, as some of your team will be back in the office/ semi back in the office, whilst some may remain at home full time- so keep that team spirit strong!
To talk to Data Installation & Supplies about protecting your assets whilst allowing employees to remain working remotely please call us on 01274 869 099 or email info@disnorth.com and we can discuss your specific business requirements, whilst offering solutions and best practice.