Working remotely comes with a number of advantages, including higher productivity and boosted employee morale. But it also introduces some vulnerabilities. For example, without the proper safeguards, remote work could compromise your organization’s security.
How do you create a remote work security policy that helps you stay ahead of these threats and proactively counteract them?
Understand Your Top Risks
Before writing anything, you need to understand your top risks in the remote work security world. For most businesses, the breakdown is going to look something like this:
· Devices and networks. What types of devices are your remote workers going to be using and how are they going to be connecting to the internet and your business networks? It’s perfectly fine to have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy, as long as it explicitly states how those devices should be managed and used. It’s also a good idea to provide your employees with a mandatory virtual private network (VPN), which will allow them to connect to your networks more securely.
· Password vulnerabilities. A depressing number of people are still using passwords like “123456” and “password.” These passwords are easy to guess, easy to crack, and they indicate lazy password habits that could make the passwords easy to steal as well. All your employees should be using strong passwords with a mix of different types of characters and a large number of characters. Those passwords should also not contain common words or phrases, and your employees should know to never give out their passwords to anyone.
· Phishing and social engineering. Phishing and other types of social engineering attacks rely on naivete and social compliance to get people to volunteer private information. Your employees need to be trained and educated on what these scams and attacks look like, so they don’t fall victim to them.
· Backup and recovery. It’s also important to have backup and recovery strategies in place in your remote work security policy. If you’re the victim of a ransomware attack, or if an employee loses an important piece of hardware, you should have a system in place to restore their information to its former glory.
Drafting a Policy
What’s the best system for drafting an initial remote work security policy?
· Work with professionals. For starters, consider working with professionals. Hiring an IT consultant can make the work of drafting a remote work security policy much easier – and you’ll end up with documentation that’s much more thorough.
· Start with a template. Alternatively, you can start with a template. There are dozens of examples of remote work security policies online, and you can use any of them as a good starting point. Just make sure you review the information thoroughly and make changes as appropriate so the document remains relevant to your organization.
· Write in plain language. Your organization’s security is only going to be as strong as its weakest link – which means every employee in your organization should be trained and educated on how to exercise best security practices. If your employees can’t understand your security policy because it’s worded too complexly, they’re not going to do a good job of protecting your organization’s data. Try to write this policy in plain language and make it easy for anyone to understand.
· Provide the essentials. Don’t rely on your employees to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to security. Provide them with better infrastructure, including better devices, better software choices, and better VPNs.
Following Up
Once your policy is drafted, you’ll be in a much better position. But you still need to follow up with your employees to make sure they understand everything you’ve written in your policy.
· Provide training and coaching. Help your employees understand the most difficult sections of your remote work security policy. Provide training and coaching so people are equipped with the knowledge they need. Be prepared to give extra help to those who need it.
· Monitor and verify. Don’t just assume that your employees are going to uniformly follow your new policy. Instead, monitor their performance and verify their compliance. Take note of any deviations and correct them as soon as possible.
· Test and reassess. Consider issuing your employees periodic tests and assessments to make sure they’re still in full compliance with your remote work security policy. If they fall out of practice, take the time to reeducate them.
· Keep evolving. Security threats are always evolving, so your security policy should keep evolving as well.
It’s not especially fun to put together a remote work security policy, but it’s going to be one of your most important security documents moving forward. Take this matter seriously and work proactively to prevent the most egregious violations of your company’s data.
