Why and How to Secure Small Business Networks
PART 3: SECURITY MATTERS WHEN EVERYONE IS REMOTE, EVERYONE IS MOBILE AND EVERYONE IS LESS SECURE
part three of three
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, for smalland medium-sized businesses unprepared to support full-time work-from-home, it expanded the cybersecurity gap into a cybersecurity canyon. Organizations already struggling to stretch budgets to protect expanding exposure points against increasingly sophisticated attacks suddenly had to offer security and access to a fully remote workforce. While instituting remote-work policies helped ensure both safety and continuity, it’s come at the cost of visibility, control and security. IT relies on workers to ensure all their devices — both corporate-owned and personal— are adequately patched and password-protected. But since most people don’t realize things like their smart refrigerator or Wi-Fi- enabled doorbell could serve as an entry point to their company’s data, they’re often overlooked. “IT departments were initially focused on making certain their dispersed workforces were connected to the tools and data needed in order to keep business operations moving forward at a time when it seemed that the world had stopped,” said Bill Conner, President and CEO of SonicWall, a security partner of Dell. “Once accomplished, IT departments and C-suites realized that those new and countless endpoints must be protected from threat actors that had realized this newbusiness norm couldmake for a much larger and less secure target.”
Don’t rely on yesterday’s solutions to solve today’s problems. Fully remote workforces have different needs than on-premises or hybrid workforces — and they’re more attractive targets for cybercriminals. Here are just a fewfactors to consider:
• Malware protection for employees and servers. Organizations need to deploy firewalls to protect resources inside the company from being infected while being accessed remotely.
• Remote access to office servers. With proper server security protocols, businesses can authenticate and provide granular access to company resources and help ensure productivity for an expanding work-from-home workforce.
• Protection against email threats. 90% of breaches start with an email. Look for a security solution that helps protect against modern phishing, malware, data loss and other email attacks so security is in place even when email is accessed remotely.
• Safeguard growing endpoint populations. More work from home sometimes means the use of personal devices. Ensure your security provides defense for all your endpoints.
Secure Your Boundless Workforce Top-performing, comprehensive security solutions such as SonicWall also offer organizations strategic advantages. By consulting with Dell Technology Advisors, at 866-335-1661, you can learn how your hardware and security solutions can work together to help you:
• Know the unknown: Detect evasive and cutting-edge threats wherever and whenever business gets done.
• Gain unified visibility and control: Observe attack surfaces while helping to eliminate siloes and blind spots.
• Leverage disruptive economics for lower total cost of ownership: Scalable offerings and advanced technologies like automation and zero-touch deployment mean less cost to acquire and maintain.
By re-architecting existing security strategies for a fully remote workforce, businesses can help ensure reliable, secure connectivity — not just during the current pandemic, but also for the foreseeable future.
9x increase in work-from-home due to COVID-19 (7% of Americans before, now 62%) (Gallup)
75% more cybercrime: “We are seeing a 75% spike in daily cybercrimes reported by the FBI since the start of the pandemic.” (Rep. Emanuel Cleaver)
50% increase in attacks on IT devices compared to this time last year. (Mid-Year Update: 2020 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report)
109% increase in the amount of ransomware in the U.S. compared to the first half of 2019. (Mid-Year Update: 2020 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report)