The Covid 19 pandemic has changed many lives and careers upside down across the world. Business sector is one of the most affected in this pandemic time. Many organizations run in a hybrid working environment today, which incorporates a variety of techniques to work in the office or from home. This led to a more flexible working arrangement ultimately. If some employees work from home all of the time while others work from a centralized location or office, the work environment is said to be “hybrid”.
Hybrid work environments provide employees with greater autonomy by blending sociability, structure, and flexibility for a more perfect work culture. It is during a global epidemic only, that we clearly understood the advantages of a blended working environment. The most important factor is, working from home removes the necessity for social distance, sanitization, and mask-wearing norms in the office. Hybrid working environments have also revealed some unexpected benefits, such as greater productivity, total employee contentment, and decreased operational expenses. These advantages have been observed in the corporate sector, and many companies are investigating how to adopt hybrid settings in the long run.
Common Security threats of hybrid work environment
The remote working situation has led to a noticeable surge in cybercrime and security threats all over the world. Workers are migrating from safe office environments with enterprise network monitoring, firewalls, and event and data analytics to unsecure home networks with rogue devices, weak passwords, and low-quality equipment. The hybrid working environment, whether people work on-site or remotely, has become a permanent cybersecurity concern for enterprises. The common security issues are as follows:
Less safer work environment: When employees work remotely, security professionals encounter issues such as weak or non-existent home Wi-Fi security, family laptops, missing firewalls, absence of antivirus software, insecure mobile devices, and poor security hygiene. Due to a lack of internet connectivity or capacity, software updates may be delayed, leaving vulnerable points for fraudsters to exploit. The usage of unlicensed software, which could contain malware, can further endanger a business’s cybersecurity posture.
Weak data protection and authentication: Protecting sensitive data becomes more difficult with an extended internet-based perimeter. Because attackers may more easily fake digital identities and hijack data, accessing sensitive data remotely necessitates more checks and balances than in a traditional office environment. Cybercriminals can easily access Personally Identifiable Information (PII), credit card information, business emails, browsing history, online purchases, and social media profiles to create a false virtual identity or earn financial gain.
Difficulty in monitoring virtual work spaces: The disposal of sensitive information might be done physically or manually in physical offices. Data retention for prolonged periods of time increases the danger of compromise and can be a liability. Hackers now have another attack vector with remote access
Distractions at home lead to cybercrimes: Distractions at home have been a key cause of security problems during lockdown, as cybercriminals are closely observing human psychology and stress-related pandemic issues. Social engineering scams, such as phishing assaults, are more common among remote employees. A single error by a remote worker can result in an immediate breach, resulting in considerable financial and reputational damage.
The decision is yours!
If you have gone through the above points, you’re probably looking for strategies to fill in the security gaps created by hybrid work settings. Although risk assessment and asset management can assist you in addressing, reducing, or avoiding security threats, you might be unsure where to begin. You can avoid vulnerabilities from turning into huge disasters by cooperating with a partner like DataWave and utilizing our knowledge in risk assessment and asset management.