Is Home Office in times of coronavirus a good option?

Large global companies are adopting the home office as a way of preventing coronavirus and its current variation, Covid-19.

Since the virus began to spread around the world, large companies have realized the need to adopt the remote work format, enabling employees to work from home.

The decision to adopt the home office brings numerous benefits, even greater in the current scenario. However, enabling remote work is a very challenging task for the vast majority of companies, since the corporate data is no longer within the perimeter of the company’s network.

Such a situation requires the establishment of consistent digital security policies and a technology apparatus that makes it possible to protect the company’s assets and data.

According to a survey conducted by Kaspersky in partnership with CORPA, about 75% of Latin Americans have a notebook just for work and 30% of these people connect to public Wi-Fi networks when they are not in the office, such as coffee shops, airports, and restaurants.

Only 8% of this group of people use VPN (a virtual private network) when they connect to a network outside their company.

The survey also points out that 44% of respondents work in locations that have a corporate security policy regarding the use of smartphones and tablets. Another 35% said there are no rules in this regard where they work.

Another 21% of respondents are unaware of whether their company has any policies or rules in place.

Why use a VPN?

There are countless reasons for companies to use VPNs. Among them, we can highlight the improvement of the security, privacy and integrity of the data being transferred.

In addition, VPNs enable users to access sensitive company data on public networks, in a secure manner, bringing greater availability and mobility to businesses and people.

VPNs make it possible to shorten distances, facilitating communication between people and companies, with maximum security.

Prevention of the company and coronavirus

With the disease spreading rapidly, the home office has become one of the best options for employees to continue working without being exposed to the risks of contagion.

Some research also shows that many people are more productive working from home for a variety of reasons.

However, before thinking about the home office, companies should explain to their employees the risks to which they and the organization are exposed if the necessary security measures are not taken when connecting to networks outside the company.

According to Dmitry Bestuzhev, director of Kaspersky’s Latin American research and analysis team:

“Coronavirus is not only putting people’s health in check, it is also being used as bait by cybercriminals to spread malware. If on one hand the increase in remote work helps to protect the health of workers, on the other, criminals try to take advantage of the interest in information about the disease, hiding malicious files in documents supposedly related to this outbreak. As long as we are concerned about health threats, it is possible that more and more scams will appear ”.

The expert says that it is essential for companies to review their security systems and the policy of remote access to the corporate network.

In addition, they must guide and encourage their employees to be cautious on home office days.

Tips for reducing home office security risks To reduce the security risks associated with the home office, it is worth following some online protection tips.

– Guide your employees on the risks of clicking on links and making downloads of unknown or dubious sources. As mentioned above, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus to spread malware;

– Use an appropriate security solution to protect all company devices;

– Restrict access rights for users who connect to the corporate network;

– Install latest operating system and application updates;

– Provide a VPN for teams to connect securely.

The decision to release employees to the home office is the company’s, however, with such a serious disease spreading quickly, it is something to consider, especially in closed and poorly ventilated environments.

It is important to remember to correctly guide your employees to use their devices responsibly and safely outside the corporate environment, preferably with the use of VPN for greater security.

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