Flexible working is not just something that employees today have a legal right to request. It has also become an integral part of the work culture of many businesses. Being able to offer flexible and mobile working to employees makes an enterprise a more attractive employer and also creates opportunities for cost saving and efficiency. But how do you ensure that this flexibility doesn’t come at the cost of IT and network security?
Device security is crucial
You may have employees hot desking in the office with company laptops or they may be using their own devices from other locations. Whatever method you choose, device security is going to be essential. Good password hygiene will make it much more difficult for data and information to be accessed by those who should not have it, even if a device is lost or stolen. Long, obscure passwords with a mix of numbers and letters, as well as the use of two-step authentication, will help to boost the strength of device security.
Educating employees will give them tools
It’s a fact that staff often simply aren’t aware of the range of security risks that modern IT presents – and so it’s often up to employers to provide training to educate employees in order to keep company networks safe. The basics of device security will be important, such as not auto-saving passwords, but you may also want to educate employees on other risks, such as the dangers of using public Wi-Fi and avoiding public computers to log on remotely to business networks.
Encrypted emails are essential
Email is the key communication tool of choice for employees when flexible working – and it’s often the first place that cybercriminals will look for information and data that could be used to engineer a security breach. Encrypting emails disguise email content and an encryption key is required for anyone who wants to see it. So, sensitive information is protected and only those who are supposed to see the content of the emails sent between the business and its remote workers will be able to do so.
Data backups support business recovery
Cloud technology is a useful tool when it comes to security, enabling regular automated backups from which data can be recovered centrally through an off-site server. In the event of a security breach at your business, backups will be crucial to ensuring business continuity and the access to critical data that is required to get systems back up and running – and secure – once again. Implementing regular data backups is an important part of security and one that employees may need to be involved in enabling.
Invest in network monitoring to trigger early warning
Network monitoring has a number of benefits, from identifying current inefficiencies to informing IT strategy and planning. It’s also a crucial security tool that will act as an early warning if there is a security issue unfolding that is affecting your network.
Flexible and mobile working could be transformative for your business – as long as there is managed cybersecurity in place to ensure this is handled safely. Get in touch with help4IT today on 0207 653 9780 to find out more.
