Remote working still presents security problems one year on

Even after a full year of remote work, many enterprises are still concerned about securing their off-site users according to a new study from cloud security company Bitglass.

The biggest remote work security concerns come from data leaking through endpoints (68 percent), users connecting with unmanaged devices (59 percent), and access from outside the perimeter (56 percent).

These worries are followed by maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements (45 percent), remote access to core business apps (42 percent), and loss of visibility over user activity (42 percent).

The study shows 57 percent of companies still have over three-quarters of their teams working remotely. And an overwhelming 90 percent of organizations say they are likely to continue these increased levels of remote work in the future due to productivity benefits. 53 percent of say they are looking to make some positions permanently remote even after the COVID crisis ends. Key to this is the cloud, with with 71 percent of IT security professionals agreeing that their organization will shift away from on-premises appliances and tools and towards the cloud for enabling remote work.

"Enabling the modern workforce requires more flexible IT ecosystems and calls for increased reliance on the cloud, as well as cloud security tools," says Anurag Kahol, CTO of Bitglass. "As we look ahead to what work will be like after COVID-19, there will be a need for a mixed IT and security environment as people will work both on and off premises. Embracing the cloud is critical for enabling this and should happen sooner rather than later."

The full report is available from the Bitglass site.

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