How Your Remote Employees Could Be Threatening Your Business

Written by: Jay H.

Cybersecurity is critical for your business operations. Without proper procedures in place, you risk exposure to costly ransomware, data theft, and data loss. However, while most worry about external bad actors threatening their organization, your employees could be posing just as big of a risk. A new survey by HP Wolf Security found that many remote employees are putting their businesses at risk by trying to circumvent security measures.

Remote Employees’ Frustrations Mounting

In a global survey of 1,100 IT decision-makers (ITDMs), many reported security challenges caused by the shift to remote work. Nearly half (48 percent) of employees under the age of 24 are frustrated with security getting in the way of deadlines, leading almost a third (31 percent) to try to bypass security controls. Over half (54 percent) of this same age group were more concerned about meeting deadlines than exposing their organization to a data breach and 39 percent didn’t even know what their security policies say.

Remote employees are unhappy with security controls while working from home, creating frustration and tension with IT teams and compromising business security. As a result, 83 percent of the IT teams surveyed believe that the increase in remote workers has created a “ticking time bomb” for network breaches. Eighty-three percent of IT teams said trying to set and enforce cybersecurity policies is impossible because the lines between personal and professional lives are so blurred.

“If security is too cumbersome and weighs people down, then people will find a way around it,” said Ian Pratt, Global Head of Security for Personal Systems at HP, Inc. “Instead, security should fit as much as possible into existing working patterns and flows, with technology that is unobtrusive, secure-by-design and user-intuitive. Ultimately, we need to make it as easy to work securely as it is to work insecurely, and we can do this by building security into systems from the ground up.”

Other Findings

• 76% of IT teams polled admit security took a back seat to business continuity during the pandemic, while 91% felt pressure to compromise security if it benefitted business continuity.
• 48% of office workers surveyed agreed that seemingly essential security measures result in a lot of wasted time – rising to 64% among those ages 18-24.
• 80% of IT teams experienced objections from users who do not like controls being put on them at home; 67% of IT teams said they experience complaints about this weekly.
• 80% of IT teams said IT security was becoming a “thankless task” because nobody listens to them.
• 69% of IT teams said they feel like the “bad guys” for imposing restrictions.

Recommendations

“To create a more collaborative security culture, we must engage and educate employees on the growing cybersecurity risks, while IT teams need to better understand how security impacts workflows and productivity,” said Joanna Burkey, CISO of HP, Inc. “From here, security needs to be re-evaluated based on the needs of both the business and the hybrid worker.”

Cybersecurity teams need to open lines of communications with end-users and provide compelling and engaging training and education. To build these bridges, companies need to onboard diverse and multi-talented teams that can inspire cybersecurity.

Need help securing your organization and preventing costly network breaches? Learn about how our network security solutions can protect your firm from ransomware, hackers, viruses, and more by contacting us today!