After months of widespread distributed work due to COVID-19, businesses must face that corporate data protection is only as good as the home network's cybersecurity efficacy. Plus, this is a new normal. According to Global Workplace Analytics, "Our best estimate is that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by 2021."
As the majority of homes do not have adequate network security measures, there are severe corporate risk implications. On June 5, 2020, The Los Angeles | San Francisco Daily Journal hosted a podcast to explore just that for legal firms— featuring a Minim Advisor.
Ep. 163: More work at home, more cybersecurity risk
In the podcast Episode 163: More work at home, more cybersecurity risk, Howard B. Miller, contributing editor at Daily Journal, past president of the State Bar of California, and former professor of law, hosted Minim advisor Daniel B. Garrie, Co-Founder of global legal engineering and cybersecurity firm Law & Forensics. Here's a preview:
Miller: You've got large numbers of lawyers needing access to permafiles, communicating only electronically— large numbers of documents of all contexts now being transmitted electronically... And so, in terms of a potential hacker, this is a target rich environment.
Garrie: I think something like 40% of home networks are already compromised... With everybody working from home, it’s complicated. You work from home, you have your kids on your network, you’re on your network, everybody’s accessing everything. And you don’t have the same level of professionalism for the basic use of your home network and to control that...
Miller: Let's talk about that because I think what you said is so striking— 40% are compromised. So, if we have lawyers now working from home, what should a law firm do? Is a law firm obligated in some way, should the firm go to that home network... If somebody gets into the home network, suddenly they can get into the whole law firm, passwords, and other things.
Garrie is right about compromise. Minim has found that in a given month, 38% of homes experience attempted malware attacks. Here are a few more statistics to consider:
- Phishing attack targeting users of Google and Microsoft file storage and sharing products hits 100,000 attempts from January to April 2020
- 45% of corporate-associated home networks found with malware
- 50,000 U.S. organizations had already-infected devices exposed by the move to the home
- 60,000 malicious emails with COVID-19 related news found sent per day
- Emotet malware attacks targeting the financial services industry spike amid the global remote work movement
The episode continues on to share that businesses with employees working from home can take measures to prevent being included in the numbers above, like:
- Ensure all employees enable 2 factor authentication
- Monitor how employees are accessing the corporate network from home (Is their home router actually up-to-date? Do they have a firewall? Are they using a VPN? What other devices are on their home network?)
- Consider investing in home network security products, like Minim
Tune in to the full episode to learn more, and click below to see how Minim helps remote workers stay safe.
Minim tips for remote working
