As the pandemic continues to rollout in waves, remote work continues, with some companies offering it to their workers as a preference, like Google just did recently. Others have combined remote and in house work and are moving forward with a hybrid workforce. A recent report of a study conducted in the US revealed that the highest security risks to business networks comes from non-business IoT(Internet of Things) devices, and in other words, personal devices. The study surveyed and found that 78% businesses from around the globe, that allowed personal device connection to their networks had major security vulnerabilities.
Employee traffic on social media and online shopping sites has also increased massively since the pandemic, and has only added exponentially to the number of security loopholes of a cyber-network, and Facebook spy app can minimize the risk of problems caused through social networking platforms. Ransomware and phishing aren’t the only threats reported, with Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS) attacks becoming another hindrance to infrastructures of all sizes, and causing networks to flood with rerouted internet movement and bots, essentially paralyzing them.
There is a simple but fruitful investment that any business can make use of to combat new waves of cyber threats posed by a hybrid and distributed workforce:
Provide Employees with efficient work devices, keeping employee preference in mind:
Any business’s workforce needs good up to date working devices, both for productivity and security, particularly when most employees are connecting remotely. A work device doesn’t have to be state of the art, but it must be updated enough to be fast and simple enough to run without hassle. Updates software and hardware is also safer and easier to keep that way. A recent survey by Jam that questioned over 2000 employees from different sized organizations revealed that 87% employees want to be able to choose their own work devices and 89% were willing for a pay cut for better work tools. The benefits of company provided devices to a business are manifold:
Boost productivity:
Anyone who has ever worked with a problematic computer or device knows that efficient devices can ensure better output by reducing operational problems and increasing work speed. Outdated personal devices are more likely to fail by running out of battery in the case of Androids and laptops, having online connectivity issues or crashing. It’s common sense that an old , barely working device would cause an employee to spend more time on navigating its use and getting it to function, and less time on actual work, increasing chances of exhaustion, burn out and demotivation. Corporations also must not forget the importance of adding employee preference to consideration, or at the very least, giving them a few options, and device types to choose from.
Increased Security:
Employees are already connecting to data networks and accessing company info whether from office or home, and doing so from personal devices expands the window of cyber security problems. A report by Samsung also found that personally owned devices of employees increased the risk of cyber-attacks to a company by 70%. Despite the fact that workers may use work devices for personal activities, they are much more limited in amount and extent to the liberty taken for personal and social activity on private devices. More importantly, companies can ensure that their provided work devices have added security parameters that can allow an employee to fully engage with them for work, without added hassle or worry. For instance, a word device can be pre-installed with anti-virus apps and software by the IT team of a business that can be further streamlined with presets to aid employees and add to security.
Monitoring and surveillance:
Without a doubt, monitoring and tracking are more simplified legally and functionally on a company given device. Surveillance on personally owned devices can be complicated and may not be within the comfort zone of many employees. MDR or any outsourced software can offer a great spy solution to track and monitor your employees’ work devices, without major investment or implications. Like a Facebook spy app, it can keep a check on social media activity and on wasteful screen time. Android or device monitoring software can boost your company’s cyber security by keeping an eye on all devices connected to your network, remotely or in office and will maintain productivity without interference.
