Cybersecurity Essentials for Remote Work Success

Anyone with access to sensitive financial and personal information is a potential target for cybercrime. This reality requires employers to emphasize the importance of cyber safety in remote work. Is your organization using strong practices to secure the laptops, phones, and other digital equipment that remote workers use to do their jobs? What precautions do cyber insurers expect?

Challenges of securing a remote workforce

Cybersecurity planning for remote and hybrid arrangements should assume the workforce has varying levels of technical knowledge. At home, employees may use:

• Wi-Fi networks without WPA3 encryption (meaning: easy to hack)
• Routers with outdated firmware or unpatched vulnerabilities
• Personal devices that don’t have the latest security updates
• Messaging apps that don’t use encryption, making them more susceptible to attacks
• Easy-to-crack passwords and other poor cyber hygiene

Mandatory cyber training for all employees is a necessary first line of defense, but you need more to help protect your operations and sensitive data.

The role of UEM, VPNs, and MFA in remote work safety

To help minimize the risk of unauthorized access to company resources, implement measures like these to safeguard systems and data:

• Zero-trust network access (ZTNA): Trust no user or device by default.
• Comprehensive asset management: Maintain a detailed inventory of all devices connected to your network.
• Unified endpoint management (UEM): Oversee and control all devices that access the network, checking for adherence to security protocols and deploying updates to devices. UEM solutions can remotely wipe data from lost or compromised devices to help protect sensitive information.
• Virtual private networks (VPNs): Encrypt the connection between an employee’s device and the corporate network using a VPN to help prevent unauthorized data interception.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Require MFA to provide an extra layer of security beyond passwords. This involves additional verification, such as one-time codes or biometric authentication, to confirm user identity before granting access.
• Meticulous vendor management: Review and monitor third-party vendors' cybersecurity practices. (When you utilize third-party vendors for infrastructure to support remote workers, your organization remains responsible for the security of your customer data.)

Precautions like these strengthen your cyber defense. However, they do not prevent human error. That’s why employee training is critical for safeguarding your organization.

Fostering cybersecurity awareness

Monthly cyber education (or more frequent) helps employees stay vigilant and reinforces practices that protect sensitive data. Make sure remote employees understand how to:

• Secure their home network and devices.
• Discern and report phishing (vishing, smishing) attempts; these involve deceptive tactics to trick employees into clicking a malicious link or revealing sensitive information.
• Spot potential social engineering attacks, which aim to manipulate people into breaking security protocols.
• Adopt good cyber hygiene (creating strong passwords, using a password manager, avoiding reuse of passwords across multiple accounts, keeping passwords secret instead of sharing them with teammates, etc.).

Also, update employees quickly on new cyber threats. Cybercriminals keep developing new ways to access data and systems. Show employees specific examples of the new threats so they know what to watch for.

AI cybersecurity threats: future trends in remote work

Bad actors are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to create “synthetic media” — videos, audio manipulation, emails, and so forth to impersonate trusted individuals. Here are two examples:

• AI-generated phishing attacks: Criminals use AI to craft more convincing phishing emails, making it harder for recipients to detect fraudulent communications.
• Deepfake impersonations: Employees receive a phone call or video call, purportedly from an executive, colleague, or vendor who requests data or a transaction. These communications seem legitimate, so what steps do employees need to take to verify the authenticity of the request?

Remote employees who have not met their coworkers in person may be particularly vulnerable to AI trickery.

Though AI is emboldening cybercriminals, it’s also enabling new cyber defense tools. IT teams are using AI-powered solutions to detect unusual patterns in network traffic, with the potential to identify and mitigate AI-driven attacks before they cause significant damage.

Developing a cybersecurity incident response plan for remote work

Even with strong defenses, incidents can still occur. Maintain a comprehensive incident response plan to help minimize the damage caused by cybersecurity breaches and enable swift responses to potential threats.

Make sure your plan includes these elements:

• Define clear steps for identifying and immediately disconnecting any compromised devices from the network. Ensure all employees know how to report suspicious activity and follow a protocol for quarantine.
• Establish a clear communication plan, specifying the channel(s) to use when reporting a cyber incident (e.g., secure messaging app, dedicated email address, internal reporting system, security incident hotline). You want to make sure the right stakeholders receive swift notification of breaches.
• Review and update your cyber liability insurance regularly; double-check that it covers the risks associated with remote work incidents. Also, make sure you are complying with the insurer’s cyber hygiene requirements.

A well-structured, well-rehearsed incident response plan can help you maintain operational continuity and reduce the long-term impact of a cyber event.

Keeping cybersecurity top of mind

The right support and regular communication can help prevent cyber harm. No employee wants to unknowingly expose your network to malware or compromise sensitive data. With thoughtful planning, you can protect the cyber safety of your remote and hybrid team members. If you have questions or need more information, you can reach a Brown & Brown cyber insurance and risk management specialist through our secure contact form.

About the author

Allen Blount, a cyber leader at Brown & Brown, specializes in both cyber insurance and tech E&O (errors and omissions). Prior to this role, he spent 12 years with Zurich North America, gaining extensive experience as a Cyber and Professional Liability Underwriting Manager. Before his insurance career, he practiced law.