In today’s business climate, firms no longer make it a point to ensure that they house the entirety of their workforce in the confines of their respective workspaces. They allow their employees to branch out from the traditional office environment in order to work wherever they see fit. This allows companies to tap into a far more productive workforce (remote workers have been proven to be more proactive) and it allows them to circumvent a lot of bills, such as office space rent and equipment costs.
As is the case with just about everything else in the world of business, remote working comes with just as many cons as it does pros. The biggest con of them all? Cybercrime. To unearth some of the specific problems faced by companies and workers alike in this instance, be sure to read on.
The risks of employing remote workers
If you own a business, in this day and age, you’re going to want to at least consider employing remote workers. When taking this kind of action, however, you have to be aware of the risks these kinds of professionals pose to your organization from a cybercrime standpoint. Two of these risks include:
- Your employees using your company devices for personal use as you aren’t there to mandate what websites they access — if they access a site full of viruses and trojans, your business’s data could easily be hacked into
- Your employees accessing your business’s files on devices that aren’t encrypted or able to defend themselves against cybercrime — this would compromise your all-important business data
In order to circumvent a lot of trouble in this sense, you should consider having your employees save their work on a trusted cloud service. To provide your business with an extra layer of protection in this instance, you’re going to want to make use of a cloud security service. For more information on how doing so could benefit your business, be sure to check out mcafee.com.
The risks of being a remote worker
Do you work from wherever you can find an Internet connection (your bed, the nearest Starbucks, etc.) rather than from a traditional office space? If so, then you’re what is classed as a remote worker. The benefits of working in this ultra-modern fashion are plentiful — you don’t have your boss barking orders at you over your shoulder, for starters. There are, however, also a lot of drawbacks to being a remote worker, one of the biggest beings that you are highly susceptible to cybercrime.
It’s true; remote working is not just risky for the companies that offer this style of work — it can also be risky for those that take on work in this fashion. Some of the biggest cybercrime problems you could potentially face as a digital nomad include:
- Sharing your company laptop with others becomes almost natural — doing so could, however, compromise your network and subsequently your data
- Working in a public area and connecting to a shared Wi-Fi network will grant hackers easier access to your important professional data
- When your workload becomes heavy, you might not take the time to analyze every email sent to you, meaning you could end up opening one that opens up your gateway to hackers
There are cybercrime risks attached to remote working; there’s no denying that. Knowing of the existence of these risks, however, will stand you in better stead when you come to defend yourself against them.
