Remote working: Embrace technology, but don’t forget cyber security

This is a guest blog contribution by REC business partner Beyond Encryption. 

There is no question that the business landscape is looking very different since Covid-19 arrived on the world stage like a very unwelcome visitor at an office party!

Who would have thought as we welcomed in the New Year, with all usual optimism and hope, that just a few months later we would be gathering up our laptops and setting up our offices at kitchen tables across the globe.

Fast forward to today, and we have all had to adapt in record time to this new digital world, forced upon us by an unrelenting pandemic.

We have, however, shown amazing resilience in embracing technology to keep open those crucial lines of communication with our colleagues and clients. In fact, many surveys now point to the fact that the working environment has most likely changed forever, with remote working seemingly favoured over long days spent in the office.

Unfortunately, there was one group of individuals who seized the “opportunities” presented by remote working very early in the proceedings. We are of course talking about the cyber criminal.

As early as 20^th March 2020, The City of London Police reported a 400% increase in scams as a direct result of Coronavirus related fraud and this has been continuous throughout these very challenging times.

The unlawful action of a cyber threat actor can catastrophically damage a business’s most valuable assets, its brand and reputation and many may never fully recover.

The threat, however, does not exclusively come from these faceless criminals. The biggest data security risk can come from a business’s own workforce in the form of human error and this is often worryingly overlooked.

Since the introduction of GDPR in 2018, reports of potential breach incidents to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) have risen by 75%. Staggeringly, 88% of these were attributed to human error including emails with sensitive information inadvertently sent to the wrong party.

There are very few incidences that have the potential to destroy a business reputation with a click of a button in the way that a misdirected email can.

Businesses are now legally required to report these events to both the ICO and the person whose data has been breached within 24 hours.

All of this highlights the very urgent need for employees to be more cyber aware with business owners having a duty of care to provide regular and engaging security awareness training.

There is a job to be done changing hearts and minds to encourage the right behaviours and create environments where people strive to be highly secure. Any culture of blame needs to be eradicated in favour of support, including access for employees to the appropriate tools and technology.

Mailock is a secure email solution from cyber security experts Beyond Encryption, that can significantly mitigate these business risks.

Not only is email content, plus any attachments, protected by encryption, the identity of the receiving party is also challenged and verified before access to the information is granted.

The system has been developed with “ease of use” at its core and it can be tightly integrated into existing mail flows and CRM systems.

Mailock provides a date and time stamped audit trail, security “nudges” and a full revocation option for those aforementioned “oops moments!”

The office may still be closed – but take the vital steps to keep work open!