![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://bollspel.com/enhancing-remote-worker-security-through-testing-insights-from-security-think-tank/&media=https://bollspel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/10508-enhancing-remote-worker-security-through-testing-insights-from-security-think-tank.jpg&description="Discover expert insights from the Security Think Tank on how to enhance remote worker security through testing. Learn key strategies to keep your remote team and sensitive data safe. Read more now."){kind=link}
- To what extent has working from home impacted cybersecurity policies?
- Emerging best practices: Critical lessons from 3 years of remote work.
By
- Rowland Johnson
Published: 19 Dec 2023
Despite claims that employers are encouraging and, in some cases, requiring employees to return to work, it is evident that the pandemic has permanently altered the way people operate. It may well be that the pandemic only increased the rate of change. Many organisations already had the technology in place to offer remote working and understood the potential benefits such as increased productivity, increased retention and lower operating costs. But in addition to the benefits, remote working has brought its own cyber security dangers, which may have been missed due to quick adoption.
It is critical to examine an organisation’s security posture via vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, or red teaming activities that cover the whole attack surface, including remote workers. This can significantly minimise cyber risk while also increasing security awareness and secure behaviour among remote workers and all employees.
Organisations cannot rely on a security operation centre (SOC) to detect anomalies and threats that come from remote workers. SOCs work on datasets of what normal traffic and behaviour looks like and then any deviation from this can be quickly identified. With work patterns so different and flexible now there is no clear ‘new normal’, making it increasingly challenging for SOCs to identify normal and abnormal behaviour.
Security testing helps an organisation in identifying and correcting vulnerabilities in software, systems, and networks, including evaluating any remote access. It is essential to establish and maintain the security of remote workers by testing all programmes they use for vulnerabilities that could compromise their data, privacy or day to day operations.
Not only can detecting remote access security vulnerabilities through testing prevent data breaches, but it also promotes security awareness and best practice among remote workers and the company as a whole, improving security posture.
When it comes to remote workers, the importance of security awareness cannot be overstated.
The ability to adapt security awareness to focus on the most significant concerns and vulnerabilities for your organization, as well as demonstrate real-world examples based on actual discoveries, will resonate with remote workers. If security testing is done correctly and communicated effectively, it will improve awareness of remote working risks, ensure understanding of the need for security policies and procedures, and show remote workers how to take proactive and preventative steps.
Red teaming, which simulates a real-world cyber-attack carried out by a team of ethical hackers, can be particularly effective for businesses with a large and diverse remote workforce. Red teaming puts the entire organization’s cyber security, detection and response capabilities, as well as its overall resilience to cyber attacks,