Data Protection for Remote Working

Need to protect your data but still allow access to remote workers? Looking for some best practices to follow?

With the rise of telecommuting, securing your company’s information has become more challenging yet never more crucial.

Whether you’re a small business owner or managing a large organization, ensuring that your remote teams can do their jobs without compromising security can be a challenging task.

In this post you’ll learn the common threats remote workers face as well as the tools and best practices you can put in place to prevent a data breach.

But first, why does this matter?

Table of contents:

Why is data protection crucial for remote work

Data protection is crucial for remote work because it mitigates the increased risks and vulnerabilities that arise when employees are outside the controlled environment of a traditional office. Remote work often involves accessing sensitive information over potentially insecure networks, making it susceptible to various threats such as phishing, malware, and unauthorized access. Additionally, when data is spread across different devices and locations, it becomes harder to comply with various data protection laws and regulations. Effective data protection strategies ensure that sensitive data stays secure and that only authorized users can access it.

Top security threats for remote workers

Now that remote work has become increasingly common, the security threats that remote workers face have evolved. Here are some of the top security threats:

1. Credential Theft: Remote work can increase the risk of credential theft, especially if employees use weak or reused passwords. Attackers can use stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to company resources.
2. Phishing Attacks: Remote workers are particularly susceptible to social engineering and phishing attacks. Threat actors often use fraudulent emails or messages to trick employees into disclosing sensitive information, downloading malware, or accessing malicious websites.
3. Ransomware: Ransomware attacks can be devastating, and remote workers can inadvertently become entry points for such attacks into the organization’s network, especially through infostealer malware and phishing emails.
4. Insecure Home Networks: Many home networks are not as secure as office networks. They often lack proper firewalls, network segmentation, and up-to-date security protocols, making them vulnerable to attacks.
5. Use of Personal Devices: The use of personal devices for work (BYOD) can pose security risks if these devices are not properly managed and secured. Personal devices often lack the necessary security controls like updated antivirus software or full disk encryption.
6. VPN Vulnerabilities: While VPNs are essential for secure remote access, they can also be vulnerable to various attacks if not properly configured and updated. Exploiting VPN vulnerabilities can give attackers access to an organization’s internal network.
7. Lack of Physical Security: Remote work environments often lack the physical security controls present in office environments. This can lead to unauthorized access or theft of physical devices containing sensitive information.
8. Insider Threats: With less supervision and control, there’s an increased risk of insider threats. Employees or contractors may misuse their access to sensitive information, intentionally or unintentionally.

Essential tools for securing remote work environments

Securing data in remote work environments is crucial Here are some essential tools and practices that can help:

1. Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN helps secure and encrypt data transmitted over the internet, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to intercept and read the data. This is especially important when employees access corporate resources from unsecured or public Wi-Fi networks.
2. Endpoint Protection Solutions: Comprehensive endpoint security solutions, including antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-ransomware tools, are essential to protect devices that remote employees use. These tools can detect and mitigate threats before they compromise data.
3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds an additional layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to a resource. This can include something they know (password), something they have (a smartphone app or token), or something they are (biometric verification).
4. Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs): CASBs help extend the security policies of an organization to cloud-based services and applications. They provide visibility into cloud activity, enforce security policies, and assess the security posture of cloud services.
5. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Tools: DLP systems help prevent sensitive data from leaving the organization without authorization. They can monitor, detect, and block sensitive data while in-use (endpoint actions), in-motion (network traffic), and at-rest (data storage).
6. Secure Collaboration Tools: Tools for secure messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing that offer end-to-end encryption can help protect the privacy and integrity of communications and data shared among remote teams.
7. Patch Management Software: Keeping software up to date is crucial in protecting against vulnerabilities. Patch management software helps automate the process of updating software with the latest security patches.
8. Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM systems ensure that only authorized users can access certain resources based on their roles within the organization. This can include provisioning and deprovisioning of rights, managing roles, and ensuring appropriate access control policies are maintained.
9. Backup and Recovery Solutions: Regular backups and effective recovery solutions are essential to mitigate the risk of data loss due to accidental deletion, hardware failures, or cyber attacks. Encrypted backups and off-site storage are an important part of your backup strategy.
10. Security Awareness Training: Educating employees about security best practices, phishing attacks, and emerging cyber threats is crucial. Regular training can help reduce the risk posed by human error and social engineering attacks.

Best practices for securing remote workers

There are a number of best practices that can significantly improve the security of your remote workforce as well as protect your organization’s sensitive data. Here’s our top 10 tips:

1. Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit: Ensure that all data is encrypted when stored on devices (using full-disk encryption) and during transmission. This prevents unauthorized access even if the device is lost or intercepted.
2. Use a Password Manager: Enforce the use of a password manager to generate and store company related credentials. This can help prevent future breaches related to password reuse. Password managers can also help prevent phishing attacks by auto-filling credentials.
3. Regular Security Audits and Assessments: Conduct regular security audits to identify and address vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure. This includes pen tests, red team engagements and assumed breach exercises.
4. Control Access to Sensitive Information: Use principles of least privilege and zero-trust to limit access to sensitive data. Ensure that employees have access only to the data they need to perform their jobs.
5. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Use a SIEM tool to aggregate, analyze, and correlate data from across your environment, including logs, network devices, servers, and applications. They help identify anomalies, detect potential threats, and provide actionable insights.
6. Secure Physical Devices: Implement measures to secure physical devices. This includes using screen locks, never leaving devices unattended in public places, and using tracking software for lost or stolen devices.
7. Use Managed Device Policies: If possible, provide employees with company-managed devices that are equipped with security controls. This allows for better management of device security settings and applications.
8. Develop and Enforce Security Policies: Create comprehensive security policies that cover aspects of remote working. These policies should address data handling, device management, and security best practices.
9. Plan for Incident Response: Have an incident response plan that includes remote workers. This should outline steps to take when a security breach occurs, including how to report the breach and mitigate damage.
10. Dark Web Monitoring: Monitor the dark web for leaked user credentials and session tokens related to your organization. Early detection of compromised data allows your security team to reset the passwords for the affected accounts and prevent potential account takeover fraud​.

If your security team needs visibility into your organization’s leaked data, book a demo to learn how Breachsense can help.