IT leaders are being kept up at night by one big worry: the increased risk of a data breach due to more employees working remotely. Forty percent say this is their top concern when it comes to remote work. And with good reason. Remote work, especially when accelerated by events like COVID-19 pandemic, compels employees to work on unsanctioned devices, apps, and networks, increasing the attack surface for bad actors, and leaving few checks in place for careless behavior that leads to data leaks.
'Times they are a-changin' was a song performed by Bob Dylan many decades ago, but the words ring true now more than ever. The Covid-19 pandemic has had serious repercussions on the healthcare ecosystem and has shaken up the global economy. The pandemic has also forced millions to work remotely from their homes. According to analyst firm Gartner Inc., amid Covid-19, 88% of enterprises shifted to remote working for their employees.
Biometrics has been around for a long time but has only had limited adoption until recently. I was involved in some of the early commercial biometric devices way back in 2000; the company I was working for at the time investigated the possibility of using them, but back then the false positive rates on the devices we investigated were way too high – either people could not authenticate or it was authenticating the wrong people.
By this time in 2020, you’re probably well past the panic of pandemic cybersecurity. The “New Normal” isn’t very new anymore and what was once perceived as short term crisis management of security is looking more like a long term solution. As we look ahead, it’s important to look at what we’ve learned from this situation, as security professionals and how we can apply that to the long road we still have ahead of us.
In June, one research study found that the pandemic caused just over 40% of the entire US workforce to work from home full-time. Many businesses made the quick decision to allow employees to work remotely, scrambling to provide IT resources and remote-work tools on the fly. Now, many enterprises are doubling down and allowing employees to work from home for the foreseeable future.
At this point in the pandemic, you’re probably tired of everyone referring to remote working as “the new normal.” Large companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have already announced that they will be working from home until the end of 2020 at the earliest, or as far out as August 2021. So, if these companies are any indication, we will all still be working from home for the foreseeable future.
Employee monitoring and productivity tracking features valuable insights into your teams’ performance levels throughout the day. If your office has been recently affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, you might also be transitioning into a more remote-friendly workplace environment. How do you make sure your employees are staying productive? Can you accurately measure an increase or decrease in your team’s overall productivity?
