The world has recently and rapidly adapted to a new reality where remote workers make up a significant percentage of the workforce. While many workers have been going back to the office over the past couple of years, Upwork estimates that roughly 22% of the workforce will remain remote in 2025. 

All these employees who are working from their homes and local coffee shops bring with them cybersecurity challenges that did not exist just a few decades ago. In order for organizations to protect themselves in the face of these threats, we must recognize these challenges and adapt our security postures to overcome them by providing secure remote access for all workers.

Whether driven by factors like war, pandemics, or economics, remote work is here to stay. Working with a dedicated team of IT security professionals provides companies across the globe with the network protection they need for secure collaboration with one another. One of the most cost-effective means of employing these teams is through partnering with cloud-based security platforms.

Key Cybersecurity Challenges in Remote Work

While cybersecurity challenges are not new in the world, the rise of the hybrid work environment has facilitated a rise in potential threats linked to people logging on remotely. Understanding the way hackers exploit these weaknesses is the first step to preventing security incidents.

Increased Attack Surface

Today, hackers and other bad actors have many more potential targets for accessing our networks than they did in the past. It used to be that all devices were wired to a central network. That meant hackers needed only to overcome the security features of the network itself to gain access. Now, employees access networks from a wide variety of personal devices and unsecured networks. These have become common attack vectors for hackers.

Use of Unsecured Home Networks

When we log into home Wi-Fi networks with weak encryption protocols or passwords, we open up the door to home network vulnerabilities like eavesdropping and unauthorized access. In fact, multiple studies suggest that around 3 in 4 people practice poor password hygiene. Considering the fact that 80 percent or more of organizational data breaches are estimated to be caused by weak passwords, these numbers represent serious cybersecurity risks of remote work.

Rise in Employee Phishing Attacks and Social Engineering Attacks

Many attacks originate via email, social networks, or messaging apps. Despite the fact that most reputable companies will never request unsolicited personal information via email or social platforms, millions of people per year voluntarily hand over their financial data, personally identifiable information, and login credentials. When people use those credentials as logins on multiple different sites, especially their work networks, these breaches have the potential to spell disaster for the company.

Shadow IT

Network security is at its best when the IT security team knows exactly what hardware and software components are installed on every device. Unfortunately, too many users adopt applications and hardware devices for valid business purposes, but fail to alert IT. Since the security team is unaware of their presence, these applications and pieces of hardware fall into the category of shadow IT. They represent risks due to a lack of IT visibility and potential vulnerabilities within the third party apps and hardware themselves.

Endpoint Security Risks

Protecting a multitude of various remote endpoints requires diligence in educating the workforce, but it also requires robust antivirus and endpoint detection software. Risks like malware infections, ransomware attacks, unpatched vulnerabilities, and insecure network connections can be mitigated through user vigilance. But, if any of these security events strikes an endpoint, it is important that the software recognizes it and takes action as soon as possible to minimize any negative impacts.

Regulatory and Compliance Challenges

Some cybersecurity challenges can even affect an organization’s regulatory or compliance standing if not properly addressed. Organizations operating within highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and government have an increased onus upon them to protect the information within their networks, and the presence of remote workers makes compliance enforcement more complex. 

Psychological Factors and Human Error

Even with robust security policies and procedures in place, the human element can act as a rogue vulnerability. Things like stress, fatigue, and inadequate training can lead to human errors that put companies at risk.

Remote Work Fatigue

Remote workers face a unique set of challenges that can lead to an increased susceptibility to making errors with regard to cybersecurity. Remote workers often multitask more often than their in-office counterparts, due to interruptions or blurred boundaries between work and personal life. They may also feel a sense of isolation resulting from a lack of social interaction. Each of these factors can make cybersecurity mistakes more common.

Lack of Cybersecurity Training

Some workers simply are not trained in the cybersecurity knowledge that will keep them safe. Having software and hardware, policies and procedures in place is great, but they are no replacement for the knowledge of how to safely access the network. Cybersecurity training for remote employees ensures they know how to safely access and navigate the network from anywhere in the world.

Addressing Cybersecurity Challenges in Remote Work

Overcoming these cybersecurity challenges and risks comes from taking the steps to properly protect our networks. Let’s look at some of the most crucial components found in a robust security stack.

Implementing a Zero Trust Model

A zero trust model is based on a very simple philosophy. Never trust, always verify. Zero trust models help minimize risk by requiring strict identity verification for every user or device. With millions of workers logging in from various points around the world each day, this is an essential tool for ensuring only verified users access our networks.

Strong Endpoint Security Solutions

Employees increasingly use their own personal devices for work due to the rise in organizational bring your own device, or BYOD policies. Every one of these devices used to access our networks represent endpoints that can be exploited for unauthorized access to our networks. 

Deploying advanced endpoint security software with real-time threat detection like Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) systems allows us to continually monitor these endpoints and take immediate action the moment irregular behavior is detected. This can significantly limit the scope of damage and protect the organization’s finances and reputation.

VPNs and Secure Access Solutions

Utilizing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) frameworks provide additional benefits to overcoming cybersecurity challenges. VPN solutions for businesses ensure users can securely access the organization’s private network by encrypting traffic and masking IP addresses. SASE combines a multitude of security and networking services under a single framework.

Both are cost-effective ways of improving network security, but they create a multi-layered security approach that covers both remote access and broader network traffic across the organization’s entire infrastructure when used in combination.

Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)

Many companies are turning to Multi Factor Authentication to verify the identities of those logging in. MFAs often involve authenticating an identity via text message, email verification link, or an authentication app. By requiring multiple forms of identity authentication, we bridge the gap of unauthorized access by someone who simply obtained a set of login credentials. As an even more secure method of multi factor authentication, many MFA solutions use biometrics such as fingerprint or facial recognition data to verify user identity.

Regular Cybersecurity Audits

In order to keep up with evolving threat trends, it is important to regularly audit remote work security policies and infrastructure. These audits should be based on best practices for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities, retooling the security stack where necessary, and utilizing encrypted communication tools.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing threat detection and response. It is an invaluable tool not only for conducting comprehensive cybersecurity audits but also for identifying baseline behaviors and recognizing when something is amiss. AI in cybersecurity is emerging as a standard feature among the most robust cloud-based security platforms on the market and is something you should look for when shopping for a provider that meets your needs.

Role of Leadership in Enhancing Cybersecurity

The buck always stops at the top. Leadership plays an important role in enhancing the organization’s cybersecurity posture. Creating a culture of cybersecurity awareness through regular training and leading by example ensures that staff is educated about the latest threats and best practices. It’s also important to set a vision for your cybersecurity goals and to both allocate resources and budget to meet those goals. If leadership wants its workforce to take cybersecurity seriously, they must supply the tools to make IT policies for remote workers successful.

Evolution of Regulations for Remote Work

Remote work is not going away any time soon, and as such, regulatory agencies are predicted to devise and enforce new employee data security compliance mandates tailored to support a hybrid work environment. Keeping up with best practices now is the best way to prepare for this eventuality and to protect your assets from falling into the wrong hands.

Securing Your Workforce in the Evolving Remote Landscape

The various cybersecurity challenges that exist around remote work require proactive measures be taken to protect an organization’s assets and reputation. New threats are devised as quickly as existing threats are identified. Viewing cybersecurity as an ongoing process of cyber resilience and data breach prevention rather than a quick fix is necessary to keep on top of these new and emerging threats. VirtualArmour provides the experience and technology needed to make this a reality and secure your network in the face of a new breed of remote workforce challenges.