Since the first outbreaks of Covid19 in Europe and seeing the containment measures taken by different countries such as Italy or Spain, many companies have been preparing so that their employees could work remotely from home without taking into account the risks and security of their sensitive information.

The advantages of remote work and its risks

According to Gallup Human Resources consulting firm, 54% of American workers work remotely part time or continuously. Many studies claim that remote workers are more productive and profitable than office-based employees. In Europe, the data for occasional remote workers compared to total workers is much lower, although there are huge differences by country.

Among the advantages that have led companies to adopt remote work has been the reconciliation of work and family life, increased productivity, avoidance of stress when travelling to work, and cost reduction.

In a short space of time Covid19 has imposed itself on these advantages in recent weeks and has forced many companies to take measures to remote work and minimize downtime.

However, not everything is an advantage when it comes to remote work. Among the barriers to adoption are isolation and disconnection from the organization and culture of the company (lack of visibility in terms of business management, isolation), lack of visibility and control over worker responsibility (is he doing what he has been asked to do?), difficulties in communication (including changing time zones), maintaining separation between personal and work life and cybersecurity (keeping workers and company data safe).

Tools to facilitate remote work

Due to the threat of the Covid19, many companies have rushed to make work easier for employees. Companies are using, among others, the following technologies to facilitate remote work:

• Productivity tools: Access to documentation suites such as Office, Adobe and others so that employees can continue with their daily operations.

• Videoconferencing: WebEx, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc. tools to hold online meetings or improve communication between remote teams.

• Collaborative workspaces Teams, Slack, etc. and similar tools that facilitate remote collaboration.

• Access to BackOffice tools: ERPs, CRMs, and other corporate tools via Cloud access or via VPN/RDP.

• Cloud storage systems: Access to corporate documentation via Cloud systems or remote access to corporate file servers.

Is sensitive information safe whith remote work?

But, what about information security? It is important to enable productivity and communication tools, but we must not neglect security: Use of secure authentication systems, VPNs to avoid publishing remote access to servers, etc.

The urgency for companies to implement remote work measures has led, for example, to the establishment of unsafe communication channels from workers’ homes to company systems. For example, enabling access to servers via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), without an adequate VPN connection.

One thing is clear, the organization’s sensitive information is going to be more dispersed and widespread than ever before. It will be carried from the company’s systems to home computers with improvised and minimal security measures that cannot be at the level of corporate security systems.

Protect sensitive documents and keep them under control

Now sensitive information has been moved to the cloud, home computers, etc. How can I easily and conveniently put measures in place to keep it protected and under control, even if it is on computers outside the organization?

SealPath, Protection and Control tool allow you to have your data encrypted, even if it is on a remote computer, control access permissions (view only, edit, copy and paste, etc.) and audit access to information. Not only that, but you can revoke access to certain protected information if necessary to prevent possible data leaks.

By following these steps with SealPath you can have your information protected within minutes and under control on all employees’ computers, even if they are at home:

1. Register your users in SealPath from the web control panel. They will receive a registration confirmation and instructions to install the SealPath software.

2. Create a corporate policy with SealPath where you only allow access to the company’s internal staff (users of the company’s domain).

3. Protects sensitive documentation that will be accessible by users from home through file servers, cloud applications, etc. Protection can be done automatically and unattended with SealPath for File Servers to secure data from file servers, SharePoint, Office 365, etc.

Once users access the information from their home computer, they can do so with the permissions assigned to them in that policy. Documentation will be encrypted, and all access will be authenticated.

With SealPath, it’s easy to get your data to travel with the security your business needs. Sensitive documentation will be out, but with corporate security “attached” to it. The work environment may not be as secure as it usually is, but the security enhancement SealPath easily applies eliminates this risk.

What other advantages does SealPath offer to secure information in this new remote work environment?

• The fact that a worker is not physically in the office increases the risk of phishing and identity theft. If confidential or critical information is given to a cybercriminal posing as a co-worker or a company executive, if this information . t can even be easily blocked completely if it is detected that this information has fallen into the wrong hands.

• These days, companies will see access to the network and information repositories from unknown devices. It will be difficult to determine whether these devices are legitimate or not. If critical information is protected with SealPath in the information repositories, the intrusion from an unauthorized device can only take encrypted information that will not be accessible after it is stolen.

Want to know more? Contact us and our experts will advise you on how to secure your information with SealPath quickly and within a few hours so that your employees can work comfortably and safely from home.