Specifically, workers experienced the personal benefits of flexibility that remote and hybrid work models offered during shutdowns. Many employees won’t or don’t want to go back. The percentage of these workers is likely to remain at high levels, and an employer’s ability to accommodate remote or hybrid work may now largely determine whether a worker takes a job or even remains with a company.

That is obviously a game-changer for recruiting and retention. It also increases the challenges of effectively managing a host of remote devices and the many workers using them. Potential impacts include infrastructure reliability, network availability, data accessibility, and, above all, IT security, but investments in robust technology to manage and support flexible work practices will ensure companies can remain responsive and secure.

A Remote Environment = Increased Threats to Security

As critical as it has been, remote work has significantly exposed companies to cybersecurity threats; these are the top risks to all organizations today. Yearly data breach totals remain high and show evidence of escalation: 1,175 in 2018; 1,108 in 2019; 1,872 in 2020; and 1,862 in 2021.

The risk is compounded not only by vulnerabilities in technology but also by human error. As evidence, Deloitte reports that 47 percent of remote individuals fell victim to phishing attacks while working at home. The average cost of a data breach enabled by a remote worker was $137,000 in 2022. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence are further increasing the number and severity of security threats, and this is why it is critical to get all aspects of IT support right.

By their very nature, hybrid work environments demand that organizations have a better awareness of risk and an even tighter grip on their data, devices, and processes to remain operational and secure. Historically, employees are the weakest link in the security chain. When employees work off-site, and often with personal devices, they lower the vulnerability threshold so much more.

Related: Choosing the Best Video and Audio Devices for WFH Setups

Because of the increased threat environment, many organizations are stepping up security investments and employee training, alongside establishing strict practices around sensitive data encryption for every device and ensuring backups are completed at different locations. Remembering that data not requiring daily access should also be removed from the regular data pool and stored where it can be retrieved when needed is also a good tactic.

Fortunately, organizations were not blind to increased security risks during the pandemic, and many put new measures in place and increased employee training. Still, many organizations have yet to modify their infrastructure to meet the new security and support challenges. Flexibility and agility are urgently needed, and many systems can’t provide either.

The solution is having a secure remote control platform that can handle a widely dispersed workforce while scaling and delivering support as required, regardless of location. Ideally, it should be easy to use, cloud-based, and have security at its heart.

 Security Features That Make a Difference

For a COO of an international company, ensuring the IT security for a hybrid working environment is a high priority, helping to safeguard network and data security, ensure uninterrupted operations and constant productivity and create a positive employee experience.

Our company has provided remote device management software for education and corporate settings for over 30 years and, with that, we’ve seen and adapted to the changes in risks and cybersecurity threats.

Some of the key remote control features that companies should consider include:

1. Secure Web Gateways

Secure web gateways are ideal for managing remote employee connections and provide extra security, regardless of location. The gateway logs all activity and can provide additional insights into which computers were attempting to connect, allowing IT teams to see whether unauthorized attempts are occurring.

2. Security Keys

As the name suggests, security keys enable remote users to connect only if they have the same security key as the client. These are encrypted passcodes and must match for connections between machines to be permitted.

3. User Acknowledgement

Implementing user acknowledgment is an effective way to guard against connection attempts from unauthorized devices. This simply means that when delivering remote support, an employee must explicitly accept the IT team member’s connection request before they can connect to the device.

With these things and more in place, maintaining a secure and productive hybrid working environment should be stress-free and, dare I say it, easy.

Matt Jones is the chief operating officer of NetSupport. He has spent his entire career helping corporate IT departments manage their networks and devices.

The post Keeping Your Hybrid Workplace Secure appeared first on My TechDecisions.