Remote working adds to threats but security stays strong
The pandemic-driven switch to remote working has brought more threats, but overall cybersecurity posture has remained strong, according to a new report.
The study from security orchestration, automation and response company Siemplify attributes this to greater investment in security automation technologies and reliance on managed security service providers.
How to onboard new starters in the COVID-era
COVID-19 has completely transformed the way we work. As the rapid spread of the virus forced the UK Government to impose a national lockdown on March 23 2020, businesses across the country were forced overnight to operate remotely. Indeed, many employees have not worked in a traditional office setting for almost one year.
In most cases, workforces have successfully acclimatized to this 'new normal'. Communication platforms such as Zoom and Slack have reigned supreme, ensuring that teams are able to communicate on a daily basis with little hindrance to their performance.
Business mobile app use up by 200 percent
A switch to remote working has resulted in a 200 percent surge in the use of business-related mobile applications and a 25 percent boost in mobile device screen time compared to the previous year.
A new report from reimbursement solution Motus also shows many professionals resorted to using mobile hot spots to offset the strains that reduced home internet speeds, which contributed to a near 20 percent spike in mobile data traffic.
Poor remote endpoint visibility puts organizations at risk
Most organizations have a severe lack of visibility into remote endpoints according to a new report, which poses additional risks as more people work from home.
In addition, few have a way to stop ransomware from spreading throughout their network after an initial breach, according to the study from zero trust specialist Illumio.
Working from home is here to stay, increased focus on SD-WAN and zero trust -- network predictions for 2021
After 2020 managed to turn most of the world on its head, making predictions for 2021 might seem to be a bit risky. Plenty of industry experts have been doing so, however, which means that it's time for our usual seasonal round ups of what you can expect to see from the technology world next year.
One of the biggest impacts of 2020's pandemic has been on networks as more people than ever have switched to remote work. Let's have a look at how the industry thinks this will play out in 2021.
Insider threats now more common than external ones
A new report from Netwrix shows that cybersecurity risks related to insiders are now more common than external threat actors.
In fact, since organizations have increased remote working, four of the top six types of cybersecurity incidents they experienced have been caused by internal users. These are: accidental mistakes by admins (27 percent), accidental improper sharing of data by employees (26 percent), misconfiguration of cloud services (16 percent) and data theft by employees (14 percent).
User experience wins out over security
While security is clearly a concern for IT professionals, providing the best application experience is more important, with 87 percent saying that security will need to better support the user experience.
This is among the findings of a new study of IT decision makers from Menlo Security, which shows slow access speeds (46 percent), poor connectivity (33 percent), no/ loss of access to resources (28 percent), downtime (27 percent) and decreased productivity due to increased security (27 percent) are all experience-related issues cited by respondents.
Education sector not prepared for cybersecurity in the age of COVID
New research from Malwarebytes reveals that 46.7 percent of IT decision-makers in schools say that no additional requirements have been introduced for students, faculty, or staff who connected to the school's network remotely during the pandemic.
In addition 50.7 percent of IT decision-makers surveyed say that no one was required to enroll in cybersecurity training before the new school year began
Malwarebytes expands business protection for remote workers
Malwarebytes has announced updates to its business protection suite and industry partnerships which incorporate more features to help secure remote workers.
New product features include the addition of Malwarebytes Brute Force Protection and Malwarebytes' next-generation scan and detection engine. The company has also announced a partnership with cyber insurance provider, Coalition to offer a combined solution of endpoint security and cyber insurance to protect organizations from cyberthreats.
Employees' home networks could lead to SMEs failing security assessments
With the pandemic forcing more people to work from home, businesses in the UK -- particularly smaller ones -- may not have considered the fact that their employees' home networks now fall under the scope of regulatory and certification requirements.
According to a report from support solutions company A&O IT Group, if an individual works from home more than half of their time, their network must be compliant with current regulations.
Vectra improves cloud services to protect complex hybrid networks
With more people working remotely, plus high numbers of IoT devices accessing corporate and cloud networks, traditional network security solutions struggle to cope and are blind to activity and data in cloud applications.
Network threat detection and response company Vectra has launched a new range of cloud services with broader and deeper cloud capabilities to track and link accounts and data in hybrid environments.
Businesses upgrade to better kit to boost home working
Since March, use of devices with newer generation chips has increased by 13.7 percent according to a new study from digital experience management company Aternity.
The use of machines with newer (8th, 9th, and 10th generation CPUs) corresponds with a 10.8 percent decline in use of 6th or earlier generation devices, and a small 2.9 percent drop in usage of 7th generation CPU-based machines.
Advantages of remote onboarding
The world of work has changed, and remote work is no longer an option or perk. Teams worldwide have been forced to go fully- or mostly-remote, many with a weekend’s notice. As the months of working from home drag on, we’ve had to readjust our processes and systems -- one of which is employee onboarding.
The importance of a strong onboarding program can’t be overstated -- especially since only 12 percent of employees are happy with their organization’s onboarding programs, and 50 percent of new hires leave their organizations within their first 18 months. While remote work is associated with decreased retention, we can’t deny the outsized impact of an employee’s first few months on the rest of their tenure.
CISOs look for flexibility to manage new security challenges
A new survey of UK CISOs by cybersecurity company F-Secure looks at how IT decision makers are adapting to a fast changing landscape.
With more people working remotely budgets are being moved around to allow businesses to cope with new ways of working and the resulting security vulnerabilities, and 13 percent of respondents say that budgets are going to increase as a direct response to the challenges presented by the pandemic.
Consumers overconfident of their connected device security
A new study from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) into perception and behavior around connected device security reveals that most US consumers are confident that the connected devices they own are secure.
However, the survey of 1,000 respondents in two age groups (500 aged 18-34 and 500 aged 50-75) reveals this confidence may be misplaced, along with some interesting generation gaps.
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