The current thinking of many in the business world is that a hybrid work model is the employment model of the future. There are good reasons to embrace this change: it lowers costs, increases worker satisfaction, and sometimes even improves productivity. However, that doesn’t mean that businesses should just rush headlong into embracing hybrid working. It comes with some risks that require caution, because hybrid work can increase the risk of cybercrime. If you don’t know the ways in which hybrid working can make your business vulnerable then you can’t protect it. You should learn about these vulnerabilities before you implement a hybrid work model at your company.
Hybrid Employees Use their own Hardware
On days when your hybrid employees are working at home, they’re using their personal computers and wi-fi. These devices frequently have poor security or even no security at all. Their wi-fi might even have its password left on the factory default setting. Passwords on computers and other electronic devices, when they even exist, might just be “password.” Firewalls may be turned off. Antivirus software might be out of date. Even if your employees have good computer security, their spouses, children, and guests might not. It can be a lot easier for hackers to get into your company’s data through the many vulnerabilities in your employees’ home equipment.
Hybrid Employees often Share their Devices
When your hybrid employees open company emails or store company data at home, they’re frequently opening those emails and storing that data on shared devices. Most people freely let their spouses, children, and guests use their devices, meaning that they could have unrestricted access to company information. Even if they all have no bad intentions, they could still accidentally let that information out to the public, giving cybercriminals an edge at cracking your company’s systems.
Monitoring Hybrid Workers Can Be Difficult
Cybersecurity is a group effort, and a major component of that effort is oversight by managers who are well trained in cybersecurity. This is much more difficult to implement with hybrid workers because there is no direct, immediate oversight by managers or IT services at all. That leaves all of your cybersecurity to individuals who, no matter how well trained, will be prone to getting lax and over-comfortable about cybersecurity issues with time. Employee monitoring software can sometimes help, but it’s not really a replacement for direct human oversight.
The Home Environment is Distracting
The home environment is frequently distracting in ways that the office environment is not. Spouses and children can command a person’s attention in ways that coworkers cannot. Home is also often full of noise. These distractions can lead to your employees not paying as much attention as they should to work issues like cybersecurity. This makes them vulnerable to phishing attacks, clicking on links on suspicious websites, and other mistakes they might not make under normal circumstances. And, when it comes to cybercrime, a single mistake is all the cybercriminals need. Once they get a way into your hybrid employee’s computer, your company is at risk.
It’s not Just Your Employees’ Devices that Are at Risk
Your hybrid workers will spend some time in the office, of course. Because they use their personal devices at home, they will sometimes bring them into the office to get data off of them. Or they might bring in a flash drive from home. Or they may synch with company computers remotely. Cybercriminals will sometimes anticipate this sort of thing, and install malware on your hybrid employees’ devices. This malware will wait until it comes into contact with your company’s systems and then spread itself throughout your company’s systems. That can compromise all of your company’s data and put corporate accounts at risk of being drained.
Hybrid Employees Often Use Third Party Apps
There are a lot of third party apps out there with unknown security risks. It’s relatively easy to control the use of these apps in the office. Your hybrid workers are much more likely to use them at home, however. Your IT services people can’t protect your company against the risks of these apps because they don’t know what apps your employees use, and they may not be aware of security issues regarding them even if they are. These apps could be part of cybercriminals’ attempts to get malware inside your company’s system or they could be designed to go after data on your employees’ devices directly.
The Hybrid Model Often Involves Use of the Cloud
Many companies use the Cloud to coordinate the efforts of employees scattered across a bunch of different locations. While this is very convenient, it also adds a layer of vulnerabilities in the Cloud. Cybercriminals are becoming aware of this, and so they are increasingly directing their efforts against Cloud storage companies in the hope of discovering a way to get the data of or access to the companies using them.
Cybercriminals Know that Hybrid Work is a Trend
Cybercriminals keep track of trends in the business world. They are well aware that hybrid work is becoming increasingly more common. This is enticing many of them to go looking for hybrid workers, because they know that those workers could be vulnerable points in your company’s cybersecurity protections.
Some Home Employees Work at the Coffee Shop
Some hybrid workers will make use of their freedom to go and do their work at a coffee shop, where’s there’s free wi-fi and a steady supply of coffee and snacks. Cybercriminals know that hybrid workers tend to do this, so they hang out in such places and wait for an opportunity to strike.
Managing Cybersecurity with the Hybrid Work Model
Once you understand the risks that hybrid work brings, you can do a lot to ameliorate it. Technical controls such as company VPNs and multi-stage authentication can do a lot in that direction. However, you also need to develop a culture of security at your company, especially among your hybrid workers. Together, these measures can help make hybrid working a real benefit to your company.
