Secure Remote Working Methods for Corporate Employees

With the spread of the Coronavirus and the curfews, our business processes have begun to concentrate on digital platforms. In these pandemic days, when remote working has increased and continues to spread, we are also seeing that cyber attackers are carrying out attacks much more effectively in order to reach our systems and our valuable data. There are many models for remote working, but as we introduce these models into our lives we are obliged to take security measures and to make a special effort to ensure that our business processes are not breached by cyber attackers.

Yes, while measures are being taken against the coronavirus pandemic that has shown its effect around the world, we are also obliged to think about the security of corporate employees and the confidentiality of corporate information, and to take special measures.

From the moment when applications that come our way in many fields, such as remote working and webinars, started reaching a wide audience, we can offer as an example of this situation the fact that cyber attackers have targeted these popular applications and stolen the information of many organisations, and that vulnerabilities in popular applications such as Zoom have started to be sold in the dark underworld of the internet.

In this new working order that many of us are not accustomed to but that has been in use for years, we have started to come face to face with cyber attacks much more often. We would like to emphasise that a similar situation can be seen in phishing attacks. With the increase in the number of e-mails and online meeting requests being sent, the number of requests sent for the purpose of phishing and infecting with malware is also showing an increase.

The use by corporate employees of their own devices while working remotely, and the fact that these devices are exempt from the company’s security policies, increases the impact of any attack carried out manifold.

An employee’s clicking on an advertisement for a drug allegedly treating coronavirus (a phishing attack) or installing on their computer a fake software application claiming to provide up-to-date information about the disease creates major security risks for companies, given that this computer is also used for company business.

Secure Remote Working Methods

Errors arising in the network structure of organisations, changes made in VPN configurations, or errors arising while working remotely can cause a cyber attack to be more effective. At this point, the security measures we have compiled for you below are the elements that will keep your security at the highest level in order to prevent a possible security crisis and to strengthen your defence.

Evaluating the IT Infrastructure for Remote Working

• Company security policies should be applied on computers used for remote working, and it should be ensured that users carry out their work from company computers rather than personal devices.
• Information about the software used should not be shared with people outside the company and should be used in the manner prescribed by company policies.
• If it is necessary to use internal company services, the connection of the remote-working user to the company network should be made over a VPN with two-factor authentication (2FA).
• The connection of employees to the corporate network and all applications must absolutely be logged.
• A server or service to be used inside the company should only be usable by authorised users related to that work, and access by other users to these servers and services should be blocked by means of segmentation.
• In structures where the number of employees is high, remote connection capacities should be continuously monitored. Hundreds of employees connecting at the same time increases the load on the network and may cause service interruptions.
• Where possible, the IP addresses of employees should be whitelisted, and access from different IP addresses should be prohibited.

Using Secure Applications and Devices

• For all users who will be working remotely, the operating system and the software used should be updated without exception, and it should be ensured that Endpoint Security software is present on every device.
• It should be ensured that the software on the user’s computer is licensed, and users should be informed not to use illegal (cracked) software.
• In order to provide the physical security of user computers, it should be ensured that computer disks and USB drives are encrypted.
• DLP software should be used in order to prevent data leakage.
• In situations where remote support needs to be provided to users, support operations should only be carried out over secure protocols.
• Public Wi-Fi networks should be avoided, and access to the corporate network from shared computers that are considered insecure should be prohibited.
• The rules on corporate security devices should be hardened and supported with special alerts against unauthorised access.

Providing Security Awareness to Employees

• Employees should be trained on the features and secure use of the software used in remote working, and remote support should be provided.
• The security risks of Wi-Fi devices without passwords should be explained, hardening should be applied, and it should be reminded that the internet network used in corporate communication should not be shared with others.
• It should be explained to employees how to protect themselves against e-mails sent for phishing purposes and fake links sent in order to have malware downloaded.
• Regular briefings on information security awareness should be carried out, and employees should be tested with scenarios prepared through social engineering tests.
• Internal company news should be communicated regularly and employees should be informed about security vulnerabilities that arise.
• It should be reminded that the company’s security policies must be followed against the use of simple passwords.

These and many similar measures will ensure that the corporate network is kept clean and will make your defence strong against cyber attackers. We must not forget that, if the company’s security policies are not followed, users working from home will be at major risk from cyber attackers.

In order to measure the information security awareness of your company’s employees, and to have your security audited through tests on the corporate network from the perspective of a cyber attacker, you can take advantage of our Social Engineering (APT) Tests and Information Security Awareness services.