In this lesson, we're going to cover remote
and hybrid work environments.
These days, it is pretty common for most organizations
to allow their employees to work remotely
or to work in a hybrid work environment.
This transformation in our professional work environments
has really reshaped the way we think about
and how we conduct our work on a daily basis.
Working remotely or using a hybrid work model
does offer us with many different benefits
in terms of flexibility,
but it also poses some unique security challenges
that require us to create a strategic approach
to preserving the confidentiality, integrity,
and availability of our organization's data
when we're operating outside
of our typical normal office environment.
First, let's define remote work and hybrid work environments
before we dive into any of the specific challenges
and potential solutions that you may want to implement
inside of your organization.
Now, a remote work environment is any environment
where the organization's employees work outside
of a traditional office space.
This type of remote work can incur from the employee's home,
a coffee shop, or even while they're on vacation,
on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
with today's always available
and online satellite connections.
A hybrid work environment, on the other hand,
is going to blend the traditional office environment
with some remote work opportunities.
For example, I personally work using a hybrid model
at Dion Training when I work from our offices
in Orlando, Florida a few times a week,
and then I do the rest of my work from home,
a local coffee shop or a hotel room if I'm on travel.
Now, when we have our employees conducting business
on behalf of our organization
outside of a traditional office space,
there's inherently going to be additional risks
that we're going to be assuming since a lot
of our organization's physical security controls
simply won't be extended into these remote
or hybrid environments.
Additionally, from a purely technological perspective,
data and information that used to be transferred
over an internal network
within a single secured office building
is now going to be transmitted outside of that building,
and it could be accessible to our employees
from their homes, the local coffee shop,
or even a hotel room located in another country
halfway around the world.
All of this takes the information
out of our most trusted internal networks,
and now it's transiting over a mixture of public
and private networks that could potentially have the data
or information exposed by a malicious attacker
who's seeking to cause a data breach.
Now, at the core of this risk is that our home networks
and any public networks we might use,
like a hotel or coffee shops' wireless network
will have less stringent security controls in place
as compared to our organization's
usual office-based infrastructure.
These networks are going to be susceptible to cyber attacks,
including eavesdropping through unencrypted connections
or even direct infiltration by using a weak Wi-Fi password
for that network.
Employees unaware of the sophisticated tactics
employed by most cyber criminals might inadvertently expose
your organization's sensitive data,
which makes cybersecurity training
something that every remote or hybrid worker must complete
to ensure your organization remains resilient
against these kinds of attacks.
Now, in addition to these technical attacks,
we also need to be more concerned with the physical security
of our devices when we're operating remotely
or under a hybrid model.
In a regular office environment,
our environment is totally under our organization's control,
so that any access can be restricted
to only those who are authorized to get in the building.
However, in a remote setting,
the chances of the device being lost
or stolen will be increased,
and without proper safeguarding protocols,
like robust encryption
and the capability to remotely wipe the device's data,
the information contained within that device
could quickly fall into the hands of a threat actor.
So to address these challenges,
we must establish comprehensive policies
that clearly define the acceptable practices for remote work
to ensure that our employees understand the responsibility
in helping to protect our organization's data.
These guidelines should stress the need
to always use a secure connection, like a VPN,
when connecting back to the company's network
in order to access that data.
This will ensure that the data is encrypted end-to-end
to be able to shield that data
from any potential interception
and modification by a given threat actor.
Now, another way to protect your organization's data
when using remote or hybrid environments
is to require the use of multi-factor authentication systems
to create an additional layer of security
in case your users' login credentials do get compromised.
By using multi-factor authentication systems,
you can make sure that it is harder for unauthorized users
to access your organization's sensitive information
because it's going to require that they use multiple forms
of verification before entry is granted to that system.
Now, employees must also become educated
and regularly updated on the current cybersecurity trends,
including recognizing phishing attempts,
safely handling and storing data,
and immediately reporting security incidents
when they're working remotely
or in a hybrid environment
because they're more susceptible to an attack
because they're outside
of our normal organizational protections much of the time
because they're always working remotely.
By conducting training, you can help build a company culture
where security is not just something people talk about,
but it's actually something they have a shared commitment
that all of your employees are striving to achieve.
If your organization relies on remote
or hybrid work environments as part of their architecture,
it is a really good idea to require the use
of company issued devices for all remote work
to ensure the highest levels of security.
These devices, including laptops, tablets,
and smartphones, should be fully equipped
with up-to-date security software, firewalls,
and other monitoring tools
that provide real-time protection and threat detection.
For example, if you're going to allow personal devices
to be used under a bring your own device
or BYOD policy, instead of using a CYOD or COPE policy,
then your organization must outline
the required security measures,
like installing official security software updates
and regular patching and updates
to be able to ensure the security
of these personally owned devices
that are being used for remote work in your organization.
But since the employees own the device,
this can actually complicate the securing of the device
because the organization doesn't own it
and doesn't have rights to install software on it
without the employee's permission.
Another critical thing to consider with remote
and hybrid work environments
is how are your backups going to be conducted?
Automated backups, whether on a secure physical server
or a cloud-based one can be used
to protect your data against loss
and provide a recovery option in case of ransomware
or other type of cyber attack is going to occur.
Now when working in a remote
or hybrid environment, it's also important
that you put in place the proper collaboration tools
and platforms, so that your employees can remain productive
while working outside of the office.
When choosing a collaboration tool
or platform, you should always choose one
that prioritizes the security of your organization's data.
Some things that are considered to be part of your tool
or platform selection criteria
should include the use of end-to-end encryption,
robust administrative controls
and compliance with international security standards.
Finally, it's important that you always maintain
a clear line of communication
between your cybersecurity team and your remote employees
to ensure that any issues can be addressed promptly,
to ensure the potential risks are always kept at bay.
Regular security audits
and feedback sessions with your remote staff
will also help your security team
to update their security protocols when necessary
and allow them to fix
any potentially overlooked vulnerabilities.
So remember, as remote work and hybrid work environments
become increasingly more common in our organizations,
we have to continually become more proactive
to secure our assets outside
of our traditional office environments.
To secure these remote and hybrid work environments,
we have to utilize robust security protocols,
provide employee cybersecurity awareness training,
stress the employee's responsibility
to secure their own devices,
as well as utilizing a continuous adaptation
to emerging cybersecurity threats,
so that they can best safeguard our corporate data
against the ever-changing threat landscape
that we face on a daily basis.
By embracing these best practices,
your organization can confidently navigate the complexities
of these working arrangements while maintain the integrity
and confidentiality of their business operations.