Home Office Security – That Has Happened

Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, companies have had to rethink: employees have been and are being sent to work from home. After almost two years, the home office has established itself, but home office security still leaves a lot to be desired. In today’s article, we use studies to look at what has happened in the past two years and what measures ensure security in the home office. We also give you tips on how to implement it and show you what consequences weak home office security can have for companies.

Home Office Security: Facts And Figures

Remote or hybrid work has become established over the past two years, but a sufficient level of IT security is still not guaranteed everywhere. As early as 2020, we reported that cybercriminals are increasingly focusing on home office workers – this situation has not improved.

Avast: Laxity In-Home Office Security

The security provider Avast recently published the Mobile Workforce Report 2021 and uncovered shocking numbers: Three out of ten employees in SMEs stated that they were careless when it came to security when working from home. Another 22 per cent intentionally circumvent IT security policies so they can do their jobs. Seven per cent said they would send sensitive data to colleagues, customers or suppliers through unauthorized channels. Eleven per cent engaged in sensitive business conversations despite family members being in the same room. And another 19 per cent said they left sensitive business documents open on their desks so family members could see them.

Five per cent of the SME employees surveyed admitted to having been attacked in their home network. Almost two-thirds of the employees stated that they had received IT security guidelines for home office security from the company. Only 62 per cent received guidelines for trade secrets. Only 56 per cent of SME employees received appropriate IT security training for working from home.

Home Office Security Measures

Some means and measures are easy to implement for employers and employees. We present some of them to you below.

Encryption For Home Office Security

The encryption of data is an important security factor. Encryption makes it possible to protect information from prying and unauthorized eyes. Network encryption should always be activated in the home office. E-mails should also only be accessed via VPN, i.e. via an encrypted network connection. However, content encryption is also essential for the transmission of information via email. 

Communicate Securely In The Home Office

Concerning home office security, the topic of communication is of particular importance – this is proven by the study results mentioned above. Since the beginning of the home office era, communication has increasingly been via digital channels – but unfortunately, only rarely via secure ones. When selecting specific channels, attention must be paid to data protection, but also the security of the services. In particular, choosing a suitable video conferencing service is not that easy. Still, in our article “Video conferencing software: comparison of video conferencing tools”, we have presented some services and given you tips for selection.

Home Office Security Through Training & Raising Awareness

Systems can only ever be as safe as the people who handle them: employees themselves are to be regarded as risk factors. However, this can change if employees receive training on information security and data protection. No or insufficient training can have serious consequences: Attacks are not recognized and accordingly cannot be reacted to. Hacking, phishing or social engineering are terms that your employees should be able to classify. 

Increase Home Office Security

Security and privacy incidents create a considerable rat’s tail in their wake: work can stand still when systems go down, and damages for data breaches could result as well as horrendous fines. Image damage is difficult to quantify, but it follows after security incidents. The study results show that employees are rarely well prepared for home office security, although it is not that difficult to mitigate risks: encrypt information, data carriers and communications, train and raise awareness of your employees, and you have already achieved a significantly higher level of home office security. If you have any questions about information security in general or home office security in particular, our trained experts will be happy to help you! 

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