Keeping your business, data and systems secure at any stage is important but with your team working from their homes, this has, potentially, required a rapid adjustment in how you operate, in your system infrastructure and how you maintain the integrity of your business security. The level of security you require for your business should not be reduced or compromised just because staff are working from home.

There are five key security aspects to be considered and reviewed with a work from home (WFH) arrangement. While these working from home arrangements may be temporary due to COVID-19, making sure you have everything covered will give you flexibility in the future to allow staff to work from home securely. Indeed, these security measures are of paramount importance for any business.

Security Culture: In an evolving digitized environment, establishing a purposeful security culture protects your organization from data breaches. Having a resolute modus operandi surrounding security, shields you from possible threats. It is the mindful culture of security that makes your outsourcing process astute and reliable. From email communication, knowledge transfer to collaboration with any or all stakeholders, your information remains secure at all costs.

Physical security: Avoid paper trails and create streamlined processes to ensure that information is confined digitally and not disbursed without authorization. This requires disabling access to printers while your staff are at home, to ensure sensitive data is not being printed and placed in a non-secure environment.

Logical safekeeping: Put authentication systems in place at every level with organized access and authorization control. Through restrictions on camera phones, disabling USB drives, controlled web access (blacklisting of websites), secured network access with use of VPN / static IP, your data will be protected.  Ensure end-to-end ICT process is wired with password-protected files, auto-updates of systems, powerful firewalls against malware and threats to reinstate overall control and supervise all activities.

Controlled environment: Security protocols do not change, no matter where your team works from, every step in a process is vetted and approved at every stage. Through multiple checkpoints, assessments and version controls, effective team and other authorized personnel oversee work.

There should be high importance placed on password management to securely access to your networks. Whilst this is part of the security culture that should already be established in the business, maintaining and enforcing this couldn’t be more important than when your team are offsite.

If these areas aren’t addressed and managed effectively, you risk data breaches or data theft of sensitive personal information.

Regulatory procedures:Establish a series of disclosure protocols, confidentiality agreements and statutory practices to be followed in order to access your data.

If these areas aren’t addressed and managed effectively, you risk data breaches or data theft of sensitive personal information.

The positive is, your team will likely be more than willing to support the implementation of extra security measures. It is in their best interest to ensure that the business continues to adhere to strict data security protocols during this crisis and to ensure there is no security lapse despite a shift in how they operate Businesses are now in a place where there is a need to work together closely and to support each other in order to get through this economic uncertainty.