The Transition to Working Remotely
Many of us transitioned to working remotely either full-time or part-time during the COVID-19 pandemic. For most of us this was a new way of conducting work. Neither we nor our small businesses were fully prepared for this transition. The second week of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is focusing on securing devices at home and at work.
Check out this Telework Essentials Toolkit that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently released.
CISA’s Telework Essentials Toolkit
CISA’s Telework Essentials Toolkit does a great job of focusing on the important aspects of working remotely. The CISA breaks the toolkit into three different categories: Executive Leaders, IT Professionals, and Teleworkers.
Executive Leadership’s Roles in Working Remotely
Small business leadership plays a key role in the success of cybersecurity and telework implementation. Leadership needs to create policies and procedures, and follow through on enforcing those policy and procedures. Leadership also needs to create and maintain a training and awareness program for their employees. Additionally, they need to be able to create a positive cybersecurity environment for its employees to work in.
IT Professional’s Roles in Working Remotely
Many people think cybersecurity starts and ends with IT professionals – which is not the case. With that said, they do play the largest role in protecting small business data. IT professional are tasked with finding and implementing cybersecurity solutions, making sure the business’ devices are up-to-date, and backing up all the business data from those devices.
Teleworkers – Your Home Network
Lastly, the individual who works remotely plays an integral role in protecting business data. Most cyber-attacks relies on the end user making a mistake. The mistake may be as simple as clicking a malicious link in an email or downloading a malicious file. Remote workers should be responsible for configuring their own personal networks by ensuring their devices are up to date. Due to the increase in telework, remote workers should be taking on some of the responsibilities of IT Professionals.
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