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You did it. Many months ago, you sent your employees home armed with their laptops, a few passwords, and a couple of Zoom invites. Now, hunkered down in their stretchy, comfy clothes, thankful for not having to commute, they\u2019re carrying on the day-to-day business responsibilities for your organization.<\/p>\n
But is it really business as usual? Or is your remote workforce a ripe target for\u00a0data security<\/a>\u00a0breaches? If you haven\u2019t yet experienced a negative data security issue as a result of this new work structure, take some proactive steps now to ensure you won\u2019t down the road, as this work-from-home model most likely won\u2019t be going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n According to a\u00a0survey by Price Waterhouse Cooper<\/a>, 83 percent of workers want to work from home at least one day a week and 55 percent of employers anticipate most of their workers will do so long after the pandemic has passed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is Data Security?<\/strong><\/p>\n In a nutshell, data security is everything surrounding the identification and protection of sensitive data to ensure it remains secure throughout its lifecycle. In terms of how this relates to remote workforces, data security is what protects this data not only through its lifecycle, but also wherever it happens to be stored \u2013 on-premises, in the cloud, or on a laptop sitting on the dining room table.<\/p>\n Industry regulations such as HIPAA, SOX, and the GDPR as well as certain data types, such as Payment Card Information (PCI) or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) all requires data security measures to ensure\u00a0compliance<\/a>\u00a0and data privacy.<\/p>\n The numbers don\u2019t lie and they\u2019re not pretty \u2013 data breaches are a massive problem \u2013 and can only intensify with a remote workforce unless risks are mitigated. According to\u00a0Risk Based Security<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0over 36 billion records were exposed by the end of Q3 2020 alone.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How Do Remote Workforces Put Data Security at Risk?<\/strong><\/p>\n Collaboration Shortcuts:<\/strong>\u00a0Data security is put at risk by the very nature of what you are asking your employees to do remotely\u2014collaborate\u00a0by synching and sharing files<\/a>. By sending sensitive files to each other and to third parties, the security of those files can be easily compromised, unless protected with secure file transfer solutions such as\u00a0managed file transfer (MFT)<\/a>\u00a0incorporating the solid\u00a0encryption<\/a>\u00a0methods.<\/p>\n Free File Sharing Solutions:<\/strong>\u00a0If you don\u2019t give your users an easy-to-use, secure file sharing option, chances are high they will use one that\u2019s already familiar to them, such as Dropbox, unsecured email, Google Drive, Box, and others. While these may be fine for personal use, when it comes to protecting your organization\u2019s sensitive files, they just can\u2019t provide the protection you need.<\/p>\n An MFT solution, like\u00a0GoAnywhere<\/a>, offers a familiar, dashboard-style user interface as an easy, user-friendly option to those free file sharing methods and clunky homegrown scripts. The software\u2019s centralized control, extensive security settings, and detailed audit trails deliver the security needed, with the ease-of-use your distributed workforce needs to easily adopt this file sharing method.<\/p>\n Human Error:<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s face it, humans are fallible, and when juggling the demands of working remotely, mistakes can and will be made. Are you 100 percent confident your employees are sharing all your sensitive data securely every time? Can you count on your file transfers going through or do you dread getting that call from your trading partner that they never received the file they were expecting?<\/p>\n When you add\u00a0automation<\/a>\u00a0to your file transfer method, you can rest easier, no matter where your workforce is sending files from \u2013 even from a home office. Automatic file transfer software allows users to program when and how files should move between internal systems, users, or trading partners. You can schedule\u00a0workflows<\/a>\u00a0to run using a built-in schedule and set up\u00a0triggers<\/a>\u00a0to monitor for specific events, including when files are uploaded or downloaded. And you can get alerts long before your trading partner ever discovers a file transfer was interrupted.<\/p>\n Lack of Encryption:<\/strong>\u00a0Those sensitive files need protection both while they are at rest and when they are in motion. Encryption protocols help ensure your data is locked down securely, with only the right users accessing files. Help your dispersed workforce avoid breaching any industry compliance mandates, like PCI DSS, state privacy laws, federal regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, the GDPR, and more by ensuring you have the right encryption standards in place. The most popular ones are\u00a0FTPS and SFTP<\/strong><\/a>. While FTPS authenticates a connection using a user ID and password and\/or a certificate, SFTP allows you to use two different methods \u2014 encrypted user ID and password or an SSH key \u2014 for user ID authentication.<\/p>\n For a free PGP tool that supports basic encryption, decryption, file signing, and document verification, you can download\u00a0GoAnywhere\u2019s Open PGP Studio<\/strong><\/a>. For an enterprise-level compliance, automation, auditing, and reporting solution,\u00a0GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0supports Open PGP encryption as well as industry-standard file transfer protocols, internal collaboration features, and robust security settings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reduce Remote Workforce Cybersecurity Risks<\/strong><\/p>\n To give your organization the best defense against data security threats, you need to look at your organization\u2019s data vulnerabilities and put in place the enterprise-level of solutions to best address them, while keeping the solutions user-friendly for employees now working without their friendly tech support team just down the hall.<\/p>\n Fortra\u2019 suite of\u00a0data security solutions<\/a>\u00a0can help your remote workforce better manage sensitive data and maintain compliance. In addition to using secure,\u00a0managed file transfer<\/a>, organizations should also consider\u00a0adaptive data loss prevention<\/a>, which can help protect your metadata, to provide 360-degrees of data protection for your distributed workforce.<\/p>\n Just giving your employees the right tools is not enough. You need to also communicate the need to use the right ones. In one\u00a0study<\/strong><\/a>, researchers found half of all employees admitting to cutting corners when working from remotely, including circumventing secure systems. Make sure you enable a more secure workplace away from the usual workspace by installing secure, easy-to-use solutions, letting staff know what\u2019s available and how to use them and discussing why less secure alternatives are to be avoided.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n