In our previous article, we talked about the cyber security risks that come with working remotely. In this article, we will be talking about the precautions and solutions to be taken.

SOLUTIONS AND SECURITY MEASURES TO BE TAKEN AGAINST RISKS

Considering the security risks that may be encountered in remote connection models, there are many precautions to be taken in remote connection models that make work flow and life easier. Although many of these measures are software, individuals or companies must also take device and physical measures.

Paying attention to cyber security measures while providing remote working models means that companies can ensure the isolation of their data. A few of these measures and solutions are given below.

1- Network Security

First of all, companies must have a well-designed network infrastructure. However, having a high level of TCP/IP knowledge is one of the leading risk measures.

The packets sent by the attackers to the target systems first pass through the router and are transmitted to other systems in turn. Since the routers are the first system exposed to the attack, the effect of the attack can be reduced by creating an ‘access control list’ on the routers.

The effect of damaging the system can be reduced by creating the necessary rules on the firewalls. In particular, using the ‘rate limiting’ feature in firewalls, the maximum number of packets (limit) that will come from a certain IP address can be determined to prevent IP addresses that exceed the limit. Most importantly, internet traffic must be monitored 24/7 by well-equipped and experienced IT specialists.

Remote Cybersecurity Tools First

Organizations should expand their cybersecurity toolkit to include tools that can help their employees verify the security of their home networks. This is because the employee’s home networks interfere with corporate networks and if the home network is unsecured, it presents as an additional attack vector for the company.

Necessary analyzes should be made or automated software should be used to detect malicious software (malware) that will run in the background as a result of unintentional access to devices. Phishing, Ransomware and Spam (Spam) attacks are also prevented with malware detection software. In addition, although the devices allocated to working individuals are physically stolen, the disks of the devices must be encrypted.

Organizations should prioritize 2 types of vehicles. The first are tools that can provide security information about an external network. Second, they are tools that can provide security for an employee’s home network.

Ek olarak, bu araçlar, birleşik bir hibrit (kurumsal ve çalışan) ağlar vizyonu sağlamak için mevcut siber güvenlik istihbarat araçlarıyla bütünleştirilmelidir. Bu, kuruluşa güvenlik durumuna gerçekçi bir bakış açısı kazandırmaya yardımcı olacaktır.

Password Security

Simple passwords that are used today, perhaps because they are forgotten, will prevent you from preventing system breaches. As we mentioned, with the developing cyber attack techniques, many passwords are registered in the libraries of the attackers. With these passwords registered in libraries, access to your accounts will be easier with bruteforce attack techniques. Access to accounts must be supported by a two-step authentication method. After users log in with their passwords, they can send SMS, etc. It is an important step to create the security of your password, to log in with a single-use key that will be transmitted through the methods.

Passwords should be at least 8-12 characters long, not simple and should not be related to personal information (name and surname, date of birth, etc.). With social engineering, personal information of employees can be detected very easily. It is possible to keep your passwords using cloud systems, since saving or backing up the long passwords without security measures is also a problem so that long passwords are not forgotten.

Safety-Oriented Culture

The issue of cybersecurity in the organization is not only a matter of technology, but also of culture. A company’s cyber tools are only useful if company employees use them effectively and consistently.

The most effective way to ensure that actions are taken consistently is to embed them in your corporate culture. These cultural practices should be explained in detail and given a “reason” to help your employees understand why good cybersecurity practices contribute to a better business. Once culture is established and understood by employees, cybersecurity policies can be linked to culture to create a robust and secure environment that will benefit the organization.

In addition, this culture should be supported by actions that strengthen it. There is nothing employees hate more than empty words coming from height before real action takes place. Leadership should provide examples that everyone should follow.

One last thing, culture is not a static entity, it evolves forever, the leadership of the organization should foster an environment of feedback and iteration. This means that leadership must continually seek feedback from employees in the field and see how the culture can be improved to drive business and safety success.

Employee Cybersecurity Training

As long as a member of your organization is untrained in cybersecurity threats and practices, it is difficult to obtain cybersecurity education as that person represents an attack vector. Individuals should be trained in order to raise awareness of companies on the safe use of devices to be used in company networks and to be allocated to working individuals.

This means that any training program must cover all levels of the organization, from leadership to frontline workers.

Data Security

Despite the measures taken against many possible attacks, it is still necessary to be cautious. Company data should be regularly backed up to cloud servers. Backing up information, documents and even passwords in cloud systems is part of the data isolation process, considering that attackers are trying to physically or virtually access company information and prevent you from accessing this information.

Conclusion

Remote working models are generally used in “emergency” situations. Since the safety of this model, which should be used in emergencies, is in question, it should be planned before emergencies. Otherwise, since the R&D process cannot be sustained in a short time, it may cause greater losses in the following processes.

In case of data loss, physical interventions may be delayed due to working from home. It should not be forgotten that IT investments will be made in the long term and data isolation can be carried out in a healthy way. Each of the security products used within the framework of the implementation of remote working models by more tightly reviewing the security measures applied within the local network complement each other.