Working From Home and Malware
The last year and a half has completely revolutionized the workplace. Zoom, Dropbox, Teams, and a myriad of other programs have enabled more and more people to work from home. A survey from CNBC found that 45% of companies plan to use a hybrid work model for the last half of 2021. However with this new technology, there come new security risks.
When employees work from home, their internet connections may not be as secure as the networks used by businesses. Malware and phishing attacks have risen dramatically, with hackers trying to access company information though individual computers, or retrieving usernames and passwords to obtain data stored in the cloud. When hybrid workers come into the office and plug up to the corporate network, there’s a risk of passing along any malicious code residing on their computer.
While software solutions like firewalls can be helpful, the main line of defense comes from educating your workforce. For example, some emails may seem like they come from a coworker, but contain malicious links. If in doubt, try contacting a coworker in another fashion to make sure they’re the ones who sent the email. Other scams include rebuilding a company webpage under a different web address, culling login information. A quick look at the address bar on a browser can prevent a large-scale data breach. With a little extra effort from our teams, we can all work to protect our businesses from cyber attacks.