Tips on Securing Your Remote Workforce

Ensuring enterprise security is more difficult given the remote work environment most (if not all) organizations are experiencing. There is a strong possibility that the experience of the coronavirus disease and associated social distancing has made telework a more acceptable reality for many businesses. Consequently, organizations are well advised to strengthen their enterprise telework and remote access policies and implement cybersecurity protections that minimize the unauthorized access and exposure to sensitive systems and information. Provided organizations take lessons learned from this experience, they can be more prepared for future impacts to business continuity. To extend your organization’s security to the home environment, Linea Secure recommends following practices:

Remote Connectivity

If staff members are given access to the organization’s resources remotely, use a virtual private network(VPN) connection supported by a multifactor authentication mechanism.We recommend using videoconferencing as much as possible to enable continued collaboration. Secure your videoconferencing meetings by implementing the following practices:

• Enable a meeting password
• Leverage a “waiting room” feature if possible
• Ensure the meeting host understands how to control meeting attendee access, as well as removing or muting attendees
• Review participants to ensure only authorized attendees are in the meeting

Meetings open to the Public should be:

• Facilitated by a dedicated host and co-host
• Set up to utilize a webinar-like functionality where there are specified contributors(trustees)
• Managed so that other attendees can listen to the meeting, but would be restricted from disrupting the proceeding so Set up so that chat capabilities are disabled for public attendees

Email

All email communications should be conducted through a corporate vehicle. Avoid using personal email for corporate communication. Be aware of increased malicious phishing activity. Malicious actors are attempting to impersonate organizational staff including sending emails with instructions to click on links that can be used to deploy malware or steal user credentials.

Common Ways to Identify Phishing Attempts:

• Lock devices when leaving your work area
• Do not connect personal removable storage devices to your work computer
• Ensure firewalls are enabled on your local device
• Ensure your home wi-fi network is secured with a pass key and not open

Data Security

Extend personally identifiable information (PII) protections to the home. Practice a clean desk policy by securing sensitive information when you leave the area. Avoid saving documents locally if possible. Use the organization’s cloud or network storage, even for documents “in progress.”

Data Security best practices:

• Remove all confidential information from your desk at the end of the workday
• Be aware of your surroundings when working directly with PII. PII should not be exposed to others in your house
• If possible, leverage the use of privacy screens
• Do not print PII or sensitive information at home

Linea Secure is a cybersecurity firm offering intelligent defense and risk management strategies to prepar eyour organization for the evolving threat landscape. For more information and to learn how we can assist your organization in cyber readiness, please contact us at info@lineasecure.com.