Cybersecurity concerns are continuing to grow, as illustrated with the seemingly endless list of data breaches. As daily lives become ever more digitized, the potential for bad actors to take advantage of weak protections increases.
Cyber crime isn’t only targeted at businesses, and is increasingly affecting the daily lives of people. In the United States alone, nearly 1 in 4 adults have been victims of cyber crimes. This stunning statistic illustrates the dangers individuals and businesses face.
Unfortunately, when dealing with a remote team at work there are certain additional challenges when it comes to secure communication. The nature of remote work means that your team will be spread among multiple locations, likely using a wide range of hardware based on individual preference rather than security considerations. This means that:
- Remote teams can’t rely on local physical servers or area networks for security
- Remote employees will likely use hardware of their own choice, with varying levels of security
- Remote employees have greater flexibility in completing their work, making oversight of security procedures a challenge
- Managing data and assets on the cloud can be difficult
These concerns make securing your team a challenge, although not an insurmountable one.
All of this shouldn’t discourage you from having a remote team, as there are certainly numerous benefits to this approach, but rather send the clear message that it’s important to be prepared and intentional with your secure communication approach.
1 Put security on the agenda
In 2017, 70% of companies reported that their cybersecurity risks increased. This statistic alone illustrates the increasing need to take cybersecurity seriously, particularly when working with a remote team.
However, despite the clear increase in cybersecurity threats in terms of quantity and sophistication, many businesses are woefully neglecting the issue. An almost mirror statistic from a separate study shows that 70% of companies are unprepared for cybersecurity threats.
This shows a counterintuitive situation: businesses realize that threats are increasing, and yet they still aren’t doing enough to prepare. In other words, cybersecurity still hasn’t become a top priority for many businesses.
One of the challenges with conveying the seriousness of cybersecurity threats is that they are easily forgotten until a serious incident happens. The nature of cybersecurity makes it somewhat invisible to the naked eye until it’s too late. This means that many businesses and teams push the issue to the side, failing to take preventive action and relying more on reactionary measures.
All of this means that getting cybersecurity on your team’s agenda is the first, and perhaps most important, step in securing your remote team’s communication.
As mentioned above, the nature of remote work is such that it eliminates the possibility of local structural protections such as servers and protected local networks. This means that your team members need to be actively thinking about the issue at all times in order to avoid incidents.
Start by raising the issue with your team and seeking their input. Some good starting questions are:
- What types of threats are out there?
- What are the potential consequences of breaches, data leaks or other attacks?
- What can we do as a team in terms of prevention?
Beginning a conversation around the issues is the best way to begin the process of securing your remote team’s communication. Once you’ve raised the topic, it’s time to translate all of these ideas and thoughts into a plan.
2 Make a policy
Translating good intentions into a concrete plan is crucial for ensuring that your remote team is well aligned on a clear security policy. The best way to do this is by creating an IT security policy. Such a document collects all of your intentions and measures in one place, making it a great resource for your remote employees to turn to as needed.
The best policies clearly outline practical steps in understandable language for those not as technically inclined. The policy should embody your team’s purpose and approach to cybersecurity. Make sure to include the following elements:
- Purpose- begin by outlining a clear purpose of your policy with a purpose statement. Consider including information on the following:
- Your approach to cybersecurity
- The need to protect the reputation of your organization
- The need to respect the rights of employees and customers
- Classification- describe the different types of data with a simple classification system that will help your team understand the level of sensitivity of the data, for example- Highly sensitive, sensitive, public information, etc.
- Access- outline who has access to what type of data and when.
- Data Handling- create clear policies on how data is handled, processed and stored.
- Accountability- describe who is accountable in case of a data breach, and who has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that this policy is followed.
- Incident Handling- create clear steps on how to react in case of a data breach.
You may want to add additional elements based on your specific team needs and business environment, but creating a policy with the above elements is an important step in securing your remote team’s communication. Given that your team members will be spread among several locations, it’s crucial for them to have both a resource and a point of contact they can turn to with security concerns.
Unfortunately, having a great plan is never enough. It’s crucial to make sure that your remote team members are able to effectively and consistently implement this plan, which means investing time and resources in training.
3 Train, train, train
There is a common misconception when it comes to cybersecurity that the majority of incidents are due to external forceful attacks. The reality is that human error is the leading factor in cybersecurity incidents. In fact, a recent study shows that 52% of incidents are due to human error.
This means that working to train your team on proper security measures is of the utmost importance. With remote workers, the challenges of not having your whole team in one physical place means that you will have to be well equipped to lead e-learning and blended learning trainings.
Potential topics to cover in any training program include:
- How to spot and react to a phishing email
- Procedures for accessing, transmitting and storing sensitive data
- Safe internet habits and usage
- The different types of malware and the risks they pose
- How to stay secure from remote locations and on the go
There are many other potential topics to cover, and ideally you will tailor your choice to your team’s specific context. You can start that process by sending out a needs assessment survey. This will give you valuable information on which to base your training program.
You shouldn’t see this type of training as a one off event, but rather a series of learning experiences that you constantly revisit. For best results set aside time every month or so where you can refresh team members skills and keep the topic of secure communication on the agenda.
Once you’ve gotten to creating your team’s training program, it’s time to think about what tools you will employ in your quest for secure communication.
4 Get the right software
Now that you have a clear policy and training plan in place, it’s time to choose the right software. You may wonder why this step is the final one. Rest assured that it is certainly intentional.
Too often teams and businesses turn to technological solutions to solve their problems, before doing the initial groundwork. Choosing the tool before the plan is a bit like putting the cart before the horse. However, basing your choice on a clear understanding of your team’s needs is sound practice.
Not all software is created equal, and there are an ever-growing number of options on the market. This makes choosing the right one for your team all the more challenging. By saving the choice of the right software solution for your remote team for last, you are best positioned to make an informed decision that is best aligned with your team’s needs.
When making your choice consider the following factors:
- What level of data encryption does the tool use? Ideally, you would want one employing one of the industry standard encryption algorithms such as AES or Triple DES.
- What communication features are included in the tool? Having all of the features your team needs in one place simplifies the secure communication process.
- What do other users say about the tool? Community feedback is a great way to gauge the usefulness and efficacy of any communication tool.
For remote teams, the best approach is choosing the fewest tools possible to cover your needs. Ideally, you would employ one comprehensive secure communication tool, such as a corporate instant messenger. In this way you make compliance with security standards as easy as possible, and streamline your team’s communication in one place.
In Conclusion
Cybersecurity threats are real and addressing them takes a well thought out approach. The nature of remote work presents some additional challenges that should be taken into consideration.
By taking the time to put the topic on your team’s agenda, create clear policies, train and use the right tool, you’ll be well on your way to securing your team’s communication!
Author: Nikola Baldikov is a digital marketing and tech enthusiast, specializing in helping companies’ success in these areas. Besides his passion for digital marketing, he is an avid fan of football and dance. Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn.
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