On the 24th March, and in a matter of days, the whole country was forced into lockdown, causing thousands of businesses to shift to a remote working solution. However, now that lockdown is easing, many large corporations such as Twitter and RBS are making the prolific decision to enable remote working on a more permanent basis, or at least until the beginning of 2021.

Since the easing of lockdown, evidence shows that people are not willing to rush back to the office, and that we are more inclined to believe that the future of work is a hybrid one – with time being split between home and the workplace. A recent survey from Salesforce shows that 74% of Generation Z (most of whom will make up the majority of the workforce in the next couple of years anyway) would prefer to either work from home or split their time up between the two sites.

This new way of working will inevitably bring new challenges for businesses that decide to permanently move to a remote working solution. One major challenge being cyber security. Since going into lockdown, the threat surface has increased beyond many organisations’ networks security controls, resulting in higher risk and further exposure to attacks.

Latest figures from Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, have already shown a loss of over £2 million for COVID-19 related reports. Unfortunately, known cyber crime is not always reported due to the fear of reputational damage caused or the length of time taken to detect an attack. We suspect there are probably more attacks that will come to light in future because of the vulnerabilities caused by Covid.

The UK government admitted that the cyber security skills shortage has never been greater, and the impact of the pandemic has accentuated the issue even further. Security is being de-prioritised; security staff are being laid off and budgets are being reduced – the term under-resourced has never been more relevant.

Now, more than ever, security needs to be prioritised to protect your business and your employees. Timico have pulled together five simple actions that you could be doing right now to ensure that you’re improving safety measures while your business is operating remotely.

• Beware of suspicious emails from unknown sources and do not open file attachments or click on links. Cyber criminals seek to capitalise on the current chaos, so don’t get caught out.
• Ensure that your laptop or PC is patched and updated against the latest threats. If you’re unsure about how to do this, speak to Timico for guidance.
• Verify that the devices used to connect to network resources or access company data have endpoint protection.
• Ensure that your WiFi router is not using a default password. Create a unique password that only you know.
• Connect to a company network or if possible, a VPN, to ensure sensitive data is processed securely.

If you’re thinking about moving to a more permanent remote working solution or need some additional support with your security infrastructure, Timico can help. We partner with the best in the industry to ensure that your hybrid or remote working environment is safe and secure. Book in your free security consultation with Timico today.