Top 6 home-office risks

Working from home keeps gaining popularity — it gives employees flexibility and convenience. So-called home office also lowers staffing costs and usually lifts productivity, although that's debatable.

Working from home keeps gaining popularity — it gives employees flexibility and convenience. So-called home office also lowers staffing costs and usually lifts productivity, although that's debatable.

But not everything is rosy. Home office can be a major security risk if it isn't set up properly. Roughly 63% of companies have suffered a data breach because of remote-working employees. That doesn't mean you have to risk your company's safety to support home office.

How to prevent the risks of home office

1.      Reused passwords and missing MFA

Using reused, weak passwords is one of the most common mistakes employees make. The simplest fix is to use strong, unique passwords. Another great tool is MFA — multi-factor authentication (the same idea you know from your bank). MFA adds another protective layer against account takeover.

2.      Insecure network

Most home networks are secured, but inadequately for working with sensitive company data. A good way to bring home-network security up to corporate level is to set up a VPN tunnel to your company.

3.      Phishing attacks

Unfortunately no one escapes phishing, and remote workers are even more susceptible. The best protection is double-checking everything and not clicking suspicious links. Ideally combined with 2-factor sign-in (FIDO keys / YubiKey are top-tier).

4.      Not updating OS and application software

Regularly updating software on every device is essential. Remote workers can forget to update certain devices, so the ideal is to enable auto-updates — for both OS and application software.

5.      Backup

3-2-1 is the ideal state. The super-ideal state is when one of the backups is immutable. You can't delete it yourself, neither can your admin, nor a potential attacker.

6.      Insufficient employee training

It's important to explain to every employee why cybersecurity matters — how to behave safely, how the various types of attack work, and how to prevent them.