Back in 2020, working remotely became compulsory in workplaces. It was necessary for social distancing, and to reduce the spread of these viruses. During the end of the year, statistics showed that working in an office and working from home yields the same results, as most companies had great output by the end of the year. According to Forbes, “The world witnessed a historic shift in the 2020 job market due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While some companies used to offer the ability to work from home as a perk, it has now become the norm for most businesses. By 2025, an estimated 70% of the workforce will be working remotely at least five days a month”.

As of 2021, most businesses started to adopt the remote working system, giving employees flexible working hours to execute their jobs effectively, while holding virtual meetings to catch up and discuss progress. It is perceived as a better and more effective means of working and comes with a lot of perks such as flexible working hours, high productivity, and less commuting time, But, it is also faced with lots of challenges, pertaining to cyber-attacks.

Some problems include:

  1. Unsecure home network connection: This is one of the reasons that drives an increase in cyber security risks while working from home. There are lots of unsecured personal networks that can cause harm to your devices. Some employees may regularly update their devices and include antivirus software, but updates to home router softwares are usually ignored. When our personal routers aren’t updated regularly, they will be prone to security gaps, leading to breach of data.
  2. Unnoticed scams: Sadly, most security risks from working from home comes from the employees. Due to their lack of knowledge, employees can unknowingly give cybercriminals access to their devices, or sensible information.
  3. Weak passwords: Employees are usually at risk of danger when they use weak passwords for their accounts. Even if your company had strong firewalls or security software, you will still be at risk if your password is weak.
  4. Unencrypted files: While companies encrypt files and save on their network, they may not think of file encryption when data is sent from one place to another. Whether it is client information to customer data, or financial and sensitive information, your company cannot let cybercriminals hack into files while they’re being shared.
  5. Personal devices: Due to the pandemic, working from home became an alternative in most workplaces, and some employees use their personal devices to work. One of the many risks this raises is the lack of IT security. When employees use their personal devices to answer work calls, talk to clients or have files that contain important information, they have no idea that their devices aren’t encrypted.

Working from home is one of the best things that happened to workplaces in these recent times, as employees are more comfortable in executing their jobs efficiently. But one thing they do not understand is the risks their devices have, when they are not protected and secured. Employees need to understand the importance of cyber security in their workplaces.

We are Platview Technologies. We are an innovative and agile cybersecurity company with the goal of safe-guarding businesses with our world-class, industry- leading services and technology solutions. We commit to understanding your business objectives and goals to align a tailored security services and strategy allowing your business to grow without added security risk.