*Per Otto Pohlmann
With a concept little explored by companies for a short time, the home office it became the main measure to maintain productivity in the corporate environment with the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. The experiment, carried out in haste in February and March 2020, worked thanks to the support of technological solutions that allowed professionals to carry out routine tasks in their own homes. Today, even with the resumption of face-to-face activities, many organizations prefer to keep this model in part or in its entirety. However, not everything is flowery: remote work also brings digital risks, which forces organizations to redouble their attention to their processes.
This is what the global study shows Access Management Index 2021, carried out by Thales, a specialist in access management and encryption. In all, nine out of ten Brazilian executives show great concern about the dangers facilitated by the home office, such as leakage and theft of confidential information. The digital acceleration caused by coronavirus has brought new questions to the technological structure of companies, as almost half of managers (47%) admit that they do not trust the protection of current security systems in relation to professionals who are working from their homes.
The concern is necessary because cyber attacks are becoming more commonplace among companies – after all, cybercriminals have discovered that company data are assets as or more powerful than the revenue itself. In 2021 alone, several corporations in the country suffered a crime of this type, such as Renner, in August, CVC and Porto Seguro, both in October. The point is that a small gap in the digital structure of organizations is enough for the hackers manage to invade the entire environment – it's like leaving a small window open at home. Can be one Login open or inappropriate use of passwords among employees, that is, common situations in a busy work day.
The alternative, therefore, was to tighten the organization's digital security policy. It is against this backdrop that the movement zero trust, that is, zero confidence in all processes related to home office. In practice, this means that the company has eliminated any ease and familiarity that professionals might have regarding access permissions to the corporate network. So, you need to insert Login and password at all times to be able to enter certain folders (if you have authorization, of course), passwords will necessarily be changed in an increasingly shorter period, among other activities. The objective is to reduce the risks that arise precisely when there is “too much trust” in the relationship between people, the company and their own data.
To achieve this status and reduce the risk of cyber attacks due to failures related to remote work, the recommendation, of course, is to bet on the technology. Today, there are many solutions that provide additional layers of protection and make life difficult for cybercriminals. This ranges from simpler solutions, such as password management and information backup services, to more advanced measures, such as security of endpoints, authentication management and even folder and data encryption. With these tools, professionals can perform their work on the equipment they use at home without worrying if they are putting the organization's digital data at risk.
Finding ways to protect digital information is a top concern for corporations today. Not just because data are important assets for business success, but precisely because the home office it is a path of no return. The pandemic may even reduce, but many professionals will continue to work from home because of the advantages that this model brings to both parties. With the right tools and a clear security policy, you can combine the convenience of remote work with the defense that your information deserves and needs.
* Otto Pohlmann It is CEO gives Centric Solution
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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