How the Coronavirus Raises the Risk of Cyberattacks
During the pandemic, most businesses cast their employees away from the workplace to work from home to prevent the spread of disease. While this minimized the impact of the virus spreading around the office, it did open businesses up to another kind of risk – cyberattacks. Employers should take steps to ensure that work-from-home employees can connect to secure remote networks.
For every Wi-Fi network that an employee signs on to, they are creating an additional access point for hackers to infiltrate your business systems. The danger is even greater if employees are using public Wi-Fi. Anytime an employee is not used to working from home, they may not have the correct cybersecurity hygiene that your business network had in place.
To help protect your business and data, implement the following strategies:
- Set up a virtual private network, and be aware that some are better than others. The network should include multi-factor authentication.
- Require employees to use private Wi-Fi. If employees need to work from hotels, conference rooms and other public places, require them to use a mobile hotspot (such as those available through a smartphone) to access a secure connection.
- Upgrade password requirements to require more complex and lengthy passwords and regularly change passwords — up to once a day if the culture will allow it.
Keeping your business safe from cyberattacks requires a bit of planning and forward-thinking. When looking to protect your company from cyberattack damage, be sure to consider cyber liability insurance. The professionals at Hoffman Brown Company can help you find the right policy for your needs in this difficult time.
