The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to shift paradigms from on-site operations to remote work culture. While this seems like the perfect solution, it could take down your business in no time. According to a survey, over 71% businesses in the UK believe that the remote work culture has led to a significant increase in security breaches. So, businesses must make a tough choice — to either fortify their private network or succumb to security breaches. At Fervimax, we use our expertise in cybersecurity to help businesses sail through these tough times. With years of experience, we have helped numerous businesses reduce the attack surface and minimize the possibilities of cyberattacks.
Why companies must focus on Cybersecurity in 2020?
Over 56% employees working remotely are currently using their personal computers to access corporate data, which increases the attack surface considerably. What’s even more appalling is the fact that nearly 25% of these employees have no clue about what cybersecurity protocols are, which makes them even more vulnerable to attacks. Fervimax can educate your employees about potential security breaches, which enables them to stay on guard. Let us now discuss cybersecurity measures that can help prevent some of the most common security breaches experienced by remote employees.
Secure Wi-Fi Connection
Your employees are at risk from the very moment they connect to a WiFi network, which can be fatal for your business. As public WiFis can be easily intercepted, your employees may unknowingly end up revealing their corporate login credentials, which can lead to serious problems. These credentials can then be used to procure confidential corporate information or to tamper your secure databases. So, you must inform your employees about the potential security risks and instruct them to use encrypted private WiFi networks, which ensure better security.
Phishing Attacks
With the pandemic making headlines, the number of phishing attacks designed under the guise of COVID-19 cures has increased considerably. Such emails are sent by threat actors in a bid to gather the target’s personal, financial, and other sensitive details. Since your employees are working remotely and may have access to confidential data, it is always better to educate them against this form of attack. Fervimax can not only educate your employees on how to identify such cyberattacks but also help businesses deploy the necessary technologies to prevent them. This includes setting up a solid web security gateway that can prevent such emails from entering the corporate inboxes of your employees.
The Right Choice of RDP
Remote work culture has led to a phenomenal increase in the number of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) attacks, which has increased the number of RDP ports exposed to 4.5 million, from the 3 million count, back in January 2020. This sharp spike is largely due to the unplanned transitioning from on-premise operations to remote operations, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, it indicates that cybercriminals are keeping up with the change in the attack surface and companies must cover themselves up before it is too late. We can do this for you by identifying the attack vectors and formulating an actionable plan that minimizes the attack surface.
Tracking Employee Behavior
Since your employees are working remotely, it becomes challenging to keep track of what your employees are up to. For all you know, they could be using their corporate laptops to watch movies illegally or to download torrents that come with dangerous malware. Such malware could provide a gateway for cybercriminals to penetrate into your company’s secure network. We can help you take control of your corporate assets and keep your network secure by deploying the right technologies.
Limiting Access
As most businesses abruptly switched to the remote work culture, companies were left with very little time to plan access management. However, since the pandemic is likely to continue, businesses must work in this direction. We recommend the implementation of secure data storage and access management practices such as restricted access to confidential data. Also, allowing certain access only to those who own corporate laptops can do wonders. Since your business owns those laptops, you are in a better position to control employee activities. Our Cybersecurity Experts can help you plan the right measures after understanding your business processes and organizational hierarchy.
VPN Tunneling
Sometimes, VPN tunneling can solve a lot of problems by securing web traffic and other online activities. Basically, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows the user to create a private network, away from the public internet connection. In other words, VPN tunneling is the process of encrypting and segregating selected web traffic from the rest. So, by implementing VPN tunneling you enable your employees to securely access corporate data from remote places. Fervimax can help businesses plan and implement this into their existing IT infrastructure.
Infrastructure Monitoring
Businesses have rushed into the remote work culture, with very little time spent on evaluating their IT infrastructure and the bugs it may have. Over half RDP port attacks have resulted from a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows OS, which could have been prevented with a simple update or change in the OS version. Also, using the right security tools such as an active Firewall and a highly updated Antivirus can help block malware to a large extent.
Final Conclusion
The rapid increase in cybercrime has caused a serious concern for businesses across the globe, with over 43% of all cyberattacks geared towards small businesses that hire less than 500 employees. Often, such companies store customer data, which makes them vulnerable to supply chain attacks and ransomware attacks. Since these attacks put customer data at risk, it could result in loss of business and lead to potential lawsuits. Experts estimate that the total losses caused due to cybercrime are likely to increase and hit a $5.2 Trillion mark by the end of 2024. So, unless you reduce the attack surface with a robust security system in place, things are not going to get any better. Fervimax can help you do that by using the right technologies and cybersecurity measures.