Remote working doesn’t have to be risky business

By now, homeworking is nothing new. And following the chaos of 2020, the global workforce still finds itself operating remotely.

But the problem now isn’t the shift to remote working, rather, making sure that existing setup is protected. Remote workforces present huge risks if not enough security measures are implemented.

Cybercrime is constantly evolving, and solutions that worked this time last year, may no longer provide adequate coverage. On average, companies spend about £3.4million¹ responding to data breaches caused by cyberattacks.

So, if you’re a Microsoft certified reseller, now is the time to consider how safely your clients and their businesses are operating from home.

Opening the floor up to cybercrime

It’s now a given that a company of any size will become the target of a cyberattack sooner or later. In fact, Microsoft reported that 73% of CISOs have seen data leaks in the last 12 months².

During the first lockdown, the immediate and large-scale demand for new hardware left many businesses with little time to think about security. And even now, assets on home networks are much less secure than they would be onsite or on a virtual private network.

With the threat landscape increasing, finding software to keep pace can feel tricky.

Small changes that can make the biggest impact

Westcoast Cloud and our specialist vendors have the solutions to protect businesses against new and existing threats.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium can manage access on users’ devices and encrypt confidential files. If your clients are still using M365 Business Standard, documents may be left unsecured across personal devices – which could create opportunities for serious security breaches.

By simply upgrading to Microsoft Business Premium, your clients will have access to a much wider range of protection for remote workstations. For instance, it enables businesses to create standardised device management policies and limit access to certain documents. This helps prevent cybercriminals gaining access, as well as making it extremely difficult for employees to defraud the company undetected.

Another important part of working from home is ensuring that all compliance risks are properly monitored. Finding out that vital information has gone missing and not being able to track the source of the attack is the last thing any company needs.

A tool like Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance can protect and govern data wherever it’s stored. It allows companies to reduce risk by quickly identifying and investigating suspicious activity. M365 E5 Security will then focus on detecting, responding, and acting on critical internal or external threats.

As the number of people shifting to remote working soar, they depend heavily on collaboration tools such as Teams. With Acronis Cyber Protect editions, your customers can easily install the protection agent on the machine being used for work. It monitors the application, prevents code injections, and runs vulnerability assessments and patch managements.

Some smaller businesses often operate without dedicated cybersecurity protection and have fewer resources to dedicate to cyber defence. NormCyber recognises these challenges and, with the distributed nature of today’s modern workforce, they have devised the Essential Cybersecurity Bundle to deliver enterprise-grade protection for smaller businesses.

So, if you’re looking for more information about how we might be able to help your customers – feel free to get in touch and a member of our expert team will be happy to help.

¹ Governance – The cost of a data breach in 2020
² Staying secure in a hybrid workplace