Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023. Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Top Work From Home Trends in 2023
By Alec Nuñez, Director of Business Compliance, Poll Everywhere
As working from home (WFH) continues to become more prevalent, businesses must take the necessary precautions to protect employee and client information. In 2022, IBM found that remote workers were associated with increased data breach expenses. In addition, the report found that remote work increased the average total cost of a data breach by nearly $1 million. With this in mind, here are a few factors to look out for in WFH security in 2023.
Human Error Breaches
Human element breaches are not going anywhere next year. According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, human element breaches were the largest driver of attacks. These attacks include either directly exposing information or making an error that allows cyber attackers to gain access to an organization’s systems, such as clicking on phishing emails or incorrectly storing login information.
As much as hopes are high that these types of incidents will decrease – we are not there yet. As employees continue to work from home, following security protocols seems to be almost a nuisance; we’ve seen and foresee many breaches that could have been easily avoided by following the proper security steps that employees are not abiding by. Human error will continue to be one of the main reasons why companies get hacked, especially as more and more people work from home.
Security Training
In 2023, businesses will need to revise their security strategies. The workforce must have more comprehensive security training, and employees must support the security processes adopted throughout their organization. As stated previously, human error is the largest cause of security breaches. As a result, comprehensive security training will become a necessity for all employees, regardless of tenure. Without adequate training for remote workers, the chance of security breaches grows.
Companies transitioning to a fully remote or hybrid workforce will be pushed toward a widespread education initiative. The majority of businesses do not realize what they require in a new work environment until they experience a security breach or attack. Across the board, the use of security tools to safeguard employee and client information will rise.
Security Tools
The more secure version of two-factor authentication is a physical security key that is phishing-proof and may be used for a variety of purposes, including certain single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and occasionally even other authentication purposes. Without both your password and physical access to the security key, no one can access the accounts where you’ve set one up. An employee may use the same key for several accounts because there is no local storage of any personal or account information.
In the event that the key is stolen, lost, or misplaced by you, no one will be able to access the information stored on the key and use it to link another device to your account. There are no ties between the key and the user or their accounts. When someone leaves an organization, a company administrator can remove all access by logging in and clicking “delete” on the person’s profile. This tool will be the new, more secure option in 2023.
In a remote environment, security tools are important because stolen or lost credentials were the most common way to attack and the main attack vector in 19% of breaches in 2022. To stop unauthorized access, it’s important to have security tools that are set up correctly. With more people working remotely, security risks are naturally increased, which were not as prevalent when employees worked in a controlled company facility. Working in a shared workspace or cafe on a public network is not very secure; there are risks here that employees should be introduced to and prepared to face. With correctly configured security tools, employees can stay safer on public networks or on any device they choose.
Overall takeaway
In 2023, WFH security will be a high priority. Companies are increasingly embracing hybrid or remote work and require security to support this. As it becomes more important, employees will learn more about security, more secure tools will be used, and there will be a lot of security breaches caused by people.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Director of Business Compliance for Poll Everywhere previously the Director of Operations. Alec manages the Security and Compliance Department at Poll Everywhere. His team brought the Company into certified compliance with SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 27701:2019. And, he continues to monitor and implement the ever changing requirements of State, Federal and Global data security regulations.
