How Does Remote Work Impact Your Business's Online Security?

What To Know About Keeping Your BusinessSecure When Hiring Remote Workers

- Elaine Thompson

Major data breaches have been in the news a lot over the past few years. According to recent evaluations, 2017 had more than 6.5 times as many significant breaches as 2005. And as tech becomes a bigger part of the corporate sphere, that risk is only going to increase.

Mirroring the rise in data breaches is another trend: remote work. A majority of companies leverage remote workforces, but just a fraction of those have reliable policies in place to support or oversee those out-of-office connections. Using remote workers—who will very likely send, receive, and access company data and resources online—without a cybersecurity plan in place is risky, especially given the potential consequences of a breach.

HIGH COSTS OF DATA BREACHES

Online security threats hit fast and hard, and it’s not just big businesses that are at risk. Research shows that 72 percent of all cybersecurity breaches occur at companies with fewer than 100 employees. While enterprise-level business might have bigger payoffs, hackers see small businesses as easy targets that are less likely to have up-to-date security protocols in place. And, due to limited budgets or staff shortages, small businesses may not have a dedicated IT security team to catch and report a hack until long after it has happened.

One small business that became a breach target was Rokenbok, a California-based education startup that got hit with a ransomware attack right before the busy holiday shopping season. Unwilling to pay the ransom, the company rebuilt its entire network from scratch, taking a devastating loss in sales in the meantime. Fortunately, they were able to weather the storm.

Other companies haven’t been so lucky. Efficient Services Escrow Group lost $1.5 million due to fraudulent wire transfers to Russia and China. When Efficient was unable to recover all the money, the state of California shut it down.