The rise of remote work in the recent past has led to a significant shift in how companies conduct their operations. As the world shifts toward a more agile and remote workforce, it has become increasingly important for organizations to assess the security risks involved in allowing their employees to work from home. Remote employees accessing corporate data from remote locations introduce additional vulnerabilities that did not exist when everyone worked from the office. Remote work security assessments are crucial for businesses to protect their data while employees work from home.
Understanding Remote Work Security Assessments
Remote work security assessments are a type of penetration test designed to identify security vulnerabilities that can arise when employees work outside of the office. These assessments typically examine nine key areas of vulnerability related to people, process, and technology. The goal is to comprehensively address security risks and provide guidance on minimizing those risks.
The nine areas of focus for a remote work security assessment are:
- People: vulnerabilities related to people, including internal user incidents, phishing, and social engineering
- Process: vulnerabilities related to process, including access management, policies, and data security training
- Technology: vulnerabilities related to technology, including web application security testing, wireless testing, and mobile security testing
- Remote Access Solutions: remote access infrastructure, remote access solutions, firewalls, and VPNs
- Collaboration Technology: collaboration technology, collaboration platforms, and end-user computing
- Geographical Scale: testing performed across multiple countries and locations
- Network Infrastructure Testing: architecture reviews, network segregation, and wireless access points
- Work-From-Home Vulnerabilities: the assessment of remote workstations, home network requirements, and co-working spaces
- Security Qualifications: assessments performed by reputable organizations like Crest and Tiger Scheme, and ISO27001 and ISACA accreditations
By performing a remote work security assessment, organizations can grasp the full scale of the attack surface, and understand the potential impact of cyber and information security risks. This enables the organization to identify vulnerabilities in their systems and processes better, offer practical recommendations to reduce risks, and ensure peace of mind.##The Need for Remote Work Security Assessments
Remote work security assessments are crucial for identifying and addressing security risks in the corporate and home network environments. As more employees work from home, the risk of data breaches, cyber attacks, and other security incidents increases. The resulting loss of sensitive data or system availability can have severe consequences for any business. Not only can a company suffer financial losses, but a security incident can also damage a company’s reputation. Cyber attackers are constantly evolving their approaches, and the cost of a breach can be exceptionally high.
According to a recent study, the cost of a data breach has increased by 12% over the past three years, with the total cost averaging $3.86 million. For small businesses, the cost of a data breach can be even more significant, as they might not have robust prevention and management capabilities. One of the first steps in preventing the cost of cyber incidents is by performing a remote work security assessment.
It is also worth noting that remote work models might become the “new normal” for many businesses, even after the COVID-19 pandemic’s threat subsides. Even more, as employees have grown more accustomed to remote working, the corporate environment is undergoing a significant shift in favor of agile working practices and remote work. Remote work can enhance productivity, reduce costs, and even help to attract and retain top talent. However, if you don’t address cybersecurity issues posed by this shift, it could significantly impede the company’s successful transition to becoming remote at scale.
Different Approaches to Remote Work Security Assessments
There are several approaches to conducting remote work security assessments. Each approach focuses on different aspects of remote working, and the assessment methodology varies depending on the approach. Examples of remote work security assessment organizations include:
- Kroll: their remote work security assessment combines the expertise of numerous security practitioners, offer guidance on minimizing vulnerabilities and specialized testing capabilities, and suggest other cyber scale services.
- SBS CyberSecurity: SBS provides expertise to evaluate the risks and controls related to people, processes, and technology. They offer practical recommendations and security concerns with different security qualifications.
- Deloitte: Deloitte offers a detailed action plan for remote access security improvement, including firewall configuration review, web application security testing, and application and API security review.
- Mandiant: they offer tailored assessments to minimize risk due to remote access infrastructure, workstations, and collaboration technology. They also provide remote access security assessment to identify vulnerabilities.
Each organization provides a different approach to remote work security assessments, and businesses should choose the one that best suits their needs. Ultimately, the right approach will depend on the size and complexity of the organization, the number of employees, and the number of teams involved in remote working mode.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the cost of remote work security assessments can vary significantly, as will the expected work time. In general, remote work assessments demand more focus on the work from-home vulnerabilities and end-users of sensitive data and confidential data.
Remote work security assessments are the first step towards identifying risks and drawing up a plan for risk reduction. Rather than waiting for a security incident to happen, it’s essential to take a proactive approach in managing cyber security risks. By doing so, businesses can minimize the risk of cyber attacks, take preventive measures, and ensure continued business operations.