2020 has seen a huge proportion of Oregon’s workforce moving out of the office and into remote working setups, matching 35% rates seen throughout the country. This has many benefits, but it brings risks, too, with CNN highlighting the huge security risk posed by suddenly pushing millions of workers online. With the telecommunications systems employed by state and federal authorities, and business sometimes ill equipped to deal with demand in a way that meets security assurance goals, it falls on the business to do a little extra to manage this. This starts with the most straightforward piece of technology: the telephone.
Developing telephone resilience
The telephone can be one of the biggest sources of risk. An easy route through which to intercept company critical information, whether that’s by eavesdropping or more sophisticated signal-tapping technology, the risks posed to it are exacerbated when moving through several mediums. A recommendation made by digital business consultants BCG concerns improving core IT infrastructure, and that includes the telecoms networks that your business provides. While some businesses may have moved entirely to the cloud, many others rely on their hardwired systems in headquarters to provide a hub of technological support – and this is a good approach for business assurance in their telecoms area. Having a secure setup that includes internet access and filtering as well as crucial business phone systems will help to build resilience within your IT and data network. This is particularly crucial with telephones, given those highlighted risks to data breaches and other risks that they invite.
Understanding risk
As the employer, the responsibility will largely fall on you to manage expectations among your staff. The UKs Telegraph found that 92% of workers believe it is entirely the responsibility of the employer to manage security, likely a hangover from the office environment where everything can be closely managed without being impacted by outside factors. This is obviously no longer the case, and so it’s important to help change what your staff’s view is to promote better habits. This alone will reduce the amount of cybersecurity risk and help your staff to understand and better help with tackling future issues.
Thinking forward
Remote working is likely to remain part of the big picture, so its going to be imperative that businesses continue to manage the telecoms risk. Increasingly, this might look to be achieved through the use of premium or proprietary software. Platforms for teleconferencing and meetings are being released en masse, with the industry seeing a huge boom; businesses can, and should, get on board to make sure they have a proper solution for their own needs. With these platforms will come a great level of cybersecurity assurance and overall protections, and it will be the job of businesses to make a full and frank assessment of their needs and look to see whether it would be more secure and economical to move to the cloud rather than maintaining solid systems.
Ensuring this level of security is going to be crucial moving forward. With work undertaken remotely increasing cybersecurity and telecommunications risks, employers have a duty to try to secure systems for the future.
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