The Covid-19 pandemic haunted us for months, but now it seems to be ending. Still, we face new challenges and problems in the work environment. The Covid-19 pandemic might be finally ending, but the hybrid workplace will remain in place. More and more business leaders are planning office redesigns, and more and more employees are thinking of working from home.
While staying at home, many employees have found a better work-life balance, improved time management, and avoided commuting to work. So what is hybrid work? What are its benefits? And why can it bring security risks?
What is Hybrid Work?
Hybrid work is a flexible approach to the working environment. Employees can split between working in an office or remotely. Much of the massive hybrid work transformation we have seen in the last few years was driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many employees believe the shift to hybrid work is a successful and efficient approach. So what are the benefits of working from home? Researches prove that hybrid work brings:
- Job satisfaction and well-being
- Increased productivity
- Improved employee collaboration
- Broader opportunities to recruit talent without being bound by location
The urgency of digital transformation initiated several challenges for cyber security. No matter the size of the company, cyber security risks are more likely to appear in the distracted hybrid workplace.
What are the Cyber Security Risks of Hybrid Work?
First of all, it is the vulnerability of private networks and devices. Second of all, it is the distracted household environment. 73% of employees admitted that they can be impacted by a cybersecurity incident, and 50% said that they experienced a breach in the past. Finally, there is low cyber awareness among employees.
Companies should develop an inclusive cyber security culture. Cybercriminals use tools to manipulate human psychology and the human ability to get distracted. To enable secure hybrid work conditions, both employers and employees should take responsible measures towards cyber security.
What are the ways to ensure Secure Hybrid Work?
Developing a security-oriented culture with a human in a loop can help organisations minimise cyber security risks. In other words, employees should be conscious of cyber security risks and engaged in the cyber security journey. The human element is the weakest in cyber security, but it can also become its strongest asset.
The goal of organisations is to make employees realise that they are the gatekeepers of the organisations’ cyber security. The goal for the employees is to learn how to identify, recognize, mitigate, respond, and report a social engineer attack. That means:
- Strong employee organisational identity
- Strong employee organisational trust
- Acknowledging a human is a strong defence for the organisation
- Ongoing and engaging cyber security training
- Evoking behavioural change among employees
Cyber security is a dynamic and complex topic. Everyone in an organisation has to be aware of cyber security. The challenge is to make cyber security a daily routine among all team members. For this, we should not only focus on awareness-raising and the first two spets. Therefore, we should focus on the people and the underlying motives to change their behaviour.
In the face of the changes, you can choose the best way to navigate within your business. MONKPHISH helps all the companies that want to make the right decisions to achieve better results.
If you have questions or concerns about cyber security or want to learn more about how to achieve the 5 steps above, contact MONKPHISH now.
