10 measures to boost safety and productivity in remote working
Remote working presents many opportunities for companies, but also brings with it the following challenges:
- securing the entire enterprise,
- ensuring that employees have access to the resources they need to be productive.
Here are a few essential steps you can take to meet these challenges and ensure business continuity in all circumstances.
Deploy single sign-on
Single sign-on enables the IT department to manage access from a single view, with the flexibility to assign or revoke access as required.
90% of companies say that user access management is very important as part of the organization's overall security (1).
Add multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security and biometric factors for a seamless login experience.
59% of companies rank strengthening user authentication as one of the key areas for improvement within their identity and access management (IAM) (1).
Use contextual factors
Context-sensitive strategies enable you to apply authentication modalities tailored to the login process, for greater flexibility and control.
60% of organizations believe that enhanced organizational security results from multi-factor authentication (1).
Activate your VPN at all times
Strong passwords and multi-factor authentication on the VPN reinforce security to guarantee employee identity before any access attempt.
80% of data leaks are caused solely by weak, reused or hacked passwords (2).
Protect your workstation
Multi-factor authentication at the workstation level ensures that only legitimate employees can authenticate, even if the workstation is hacked.
30% of data leaks affect employee workstations (2).
Share in total security
The password-sharing feature enables employees to share logins, ensuring they have access to the resources they need to get the job done.
185 shared files are used on average in companies (3).
Limit passwords
Passwordless authentication eliminates the password from the login experience, and establishes a more transparent and secure way of working.
95% of IT security professionals believe that their company would do well to give greater importance to password reinforcement behaviors (1).
Take action against Shadow IT
A password manager provides employees with a secure location to manage all their credentials, whether or not they are known to the IT department.
77% of employees use a third-party app in the cloud without IT's knowledge (4).
Thwart phishing practices
Password management helps reduce the risk of phishing by preventing the automatic filling in of passwords on suspicious sites.
On average, 26.5% of recipients of a malicious e-mail clicked on a link in the message (5).
View the big picture
Monitor activity through detailed reports, with information that lets you modify access and authentication as needed.
53% of companies consider monitoring user activity to be a priority for their IAM functions (1).
Given that the French have the legal right to ask their employers if they can work from home (a law introduced in 2017), and after an 8-week confinement due to Covid-19, many are expected to take advantage of this law from now on. According to a recent survey, 71% of people who had never worked from home before Covid-19 now want to stay at home at least one day a week!
Identity management has never been so important. Identity management is where you focus on managing the end-user's identity, rather than trying to manage all the devices they may use to access corporate data and applications. Leveraging identity management gives the enterprise greater flexibility to provide employees with the tools they need to do their jobs, wherever they may be.
While security managers may consider working from anywhere a security risk, they need to see it as a major opportunity to enable the business to adapt securely. Remote working, whether voluntary or enforced, is the catalyst security managers need to enable employees to be productive, no matter where they connect from, and also to reduce exposure to corporate risks.
In conclusion, remote working is simplified and secured thanks to IAM. Nor is it an obstacle if the right strategy is in place. Simple solutions exist, like those listed above, to boost productivity and ensure business continuity in all circumstances.
Source:
1. The modern identity guide
2. 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report
3. LastPass State of the Password Report 2019
4. NTT Com, "Shadow IT Survey", 2016
5. IBM State of the Phish Research 2019
Article translated from French