IT SECURITY
Staying secure in a hybrid world
Threats to IT security have continued to increase in the past couple of years, and with a more dispersed workforce now than ever before, those in charge of IT have more to consider – and resellers have an important partner in ensuring businesses stay safe.
While home and hybrid working might be more convenient for workers in terms of work-life balance, it can cause major headaches for those in the business responsible for IT security, especially as cyberattacks are continuing to increase. The ENISA Threat Landscape 2021 report noted there was a 150% increase in ransomwear threats between April 2020 and July 2021 – and, with more IT outside of the traditional office security, this is a worry for all businesses that operate mixed working practices. “The hybrid and home working environments have made securing an IT system much more complex,” says Bart van Moorsel, cybersecurity solution design specialist for EMEA at TD SYNNEX. “When the pandemic first began, suddenly businesses were faced with a situation that employees needed to start working from home,” he says. “They just picked up their workstations and other equipment and went home. The security situation was in many cases not well prepared for the remote home working environment, where the IT environment is typically dressed up with a consumer broadband and router. Research from 2022 showed that 65% of customers have not changed their default password on their broadband router. “Now, as business takes place online more than before as employees are increasingly using
video conferencing applications and web-based collaborative platforms, it gives cyber criminals more inroads into an organisation. “There is also a misunderstanding around security products and zero trust as it is assumed that they provide far and wide security protection for a business. That is not true. These products do provide security for an organisation, but only to an extent. Employees also are responsible for ensuring that they are not opening phishing emails and clicking on malicious links. With increased reliance on web-based applications and platforms, and lack of education around cybersecurity, businesses are still struggling to get to grips with protecting their business.” Bart adds that there are additional threats to consider. For instance, on a home network, employees have other devices connected, which businesses do not have oversite on the security of. “These could be infected with malware without a business knowing,” he says. “Further, another security threat from the remote situation is data loss. The item businesses want to protect has now ‘left the building’. Employees are now using new tools from the cloud and web-based collaborate platforms to enable the remote working, but this gives cyber criminals more inroads. That also means that is it
Bart van Moorsel TD SYNNEX
The security situation was in many cases not well prepared for the remote home working environment “
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