Cyber security matters more than ever

Almost twenty years ago, during the SARS period, working from home was not a feasible concept due to bandwidth limitations and clunky technology solutions. Today, the situation is different.

Sean Duca. Picture: Supplied

Almost twenty years ago, during the SARS period, working from home was not a feasible concept due to bandwidth limitations and clunky technology solutions. Like the office environment, cyber security was primarily desktop orientated while mass market smartphones and the popularity of touch-based computing were still at least five years away.

Today, the situation is completely different.

Networks can be accessed in multiple ways, remote offices are common, there is an abundance of bandwidth and cyber security harnesses the power of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to help make the mobile office a reality. With more and more people now able to work from home and an estimated 4.1 million people electing to do so, companies need to ensure their cyber security extends beyond the confines of the office walls.

With the increasing escalation of the COVID-19 situation in Australia, organisations have closed their physical premises and are enforcing work from home policies to ensure the health, wellbeing, and safety of employees. With much of the workforce now tapping into their home networks to enable business and operational continuity, this raises serious cyber security issues.

The State of Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific survey by Palo Alto Networks found that almost half of respondents stated their biggest cyber security challenge was their employees’ lack of cyber security awareness. Imagine if those employees are working from home and accessing devices used by the family for business purposes, this exposes the employee to potential exploitation by cyber criminals and puts the employer at risk.

Having employees inside the security bubble and preventing cyber attacks requires investment in time, resources and equipment. The premise of being able to work from home to maintain business continuity falls apart if the both employer and employee fail to maintain the same level of security and practices as if they are in the usual workplace.

Here are some tips to secure the work from home environment:

Devices – Only allow authorised devices to access the corporate network for business execution. This may also be a time to relook at how we can get home computers to securely access applications to allow users to continue working as per normal.

Education – Regularly reinforce to employees the need to exercise the same level of cyber security discipline when working from home. There is an opportunity for corporations to develop cyber security materials for workers to share with their families to encourage and instil awareness.

Training – Regardless of where the employee is accessing the network, the provision of up-to-date training and testing employees’ knowledge about cyber security is critical. Even better if these tests reference working from home and highlight traps to avoid.

Firewalls – Install cyber security solutions that are designed with remote workforces in mind and allow the extension of firewall-based policies. This gives employees an opportunity to securely access sensitive resources anywhere in the world.

Cloud – Employees using cloud-delivered applications and services must only use those approved by their employer and accessed via the corporate network.

With much of the workforce now tapping into their home networks to keep business as usual, organisations must do their part to anticipate cyber security issues and put measures in place to minimise any unintended risk during a volatile time.

Now more than ever, there is cause for business leaders to look at new ways of working. This might mean putting in place new security policies or updating existing ones to accommodate the new remote ways of working. Perhaps there is an opportunity here, to work out a better and secure way to operate as we continue moving towards an even more interconnected world.

Sean Duca is Vice President and Regional Chief Security Officer for Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks.