Core Information Technologies Ltd.

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WFH is here to stay Are you ready?

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WFH is here to stay. Are you ready?

The year 2020 was nothing like what we had seen before. At a certain point in time, it felt like the world would come to a standstill. With lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed across the world, businesses were pushed into a ‘new normal’. One of the things that was a part of the ‘new normal’, was working from home. This WFH set up brought along with it multiple challenges, especially to those organizations which weren’t into this model already. Accessing critical work information, carrying out meetings on Zoom, attending conferences remotely and even setting up trade show booths online, were all new concepts. While the pandemic may be temporary, one thing is certain–the remote work culture is not.

WFH existed even before the Coronavirus pandemic. There were a sizable number of companies–primarily in the IT industry that routinely hired remote workforce. Freelancers operated remotely too for the most part. However, the pandemic forced every company that can operate remotely to adopt the WFH model. While the initial switch was cumbersome, challenging and even frustrating, the benefits offered by the WFH model can’t be discounted.

Here’s how it benefited employees:

  • Helped save time and money that would otherwise be spent on commuting from home to work
  • Offered greater flexibility, as working from home let employees choose their working hours, at least in some cases
  • They needed fewer days off as things like staying home and caring for a sick child/spouse or an elderly parent didn’t mean having to take a day off work anymore
  • With lesser workplace oriented distractions, they were able to accomplish more in lesser time, which means they had more personal time and a better work-life balance

From the organizational perspective, work from home:

  • Meant more productive, focused, energetic employees with workplace distractions and long commutes eliminated
  • Resulted in lesser absenteeism as employees had flexible work schedules and could be home when their presence was needed, without having to take a day off
  • Helped them save on costs related to maintenance, utilities and employee recreation that they would be otherwise incurring
  • Can help companies save on huge rental expenses by trading larger office spaces for smaller/shared workspaces and conference rooms

So, there’s no doubt that the trend of WFH will continue well beyond this pandemic and become a norm in daily lives. It seems to be creating a win-win situation for both, the employees and the organizations they work for. However, for WFH to function smoothly, you need to have a solid IT infrastructure ensures the transition from the traditional office setup to the WFH model is smooth and the integration between the various elements involved in the new WFH environment is seamless.

Are you ready to switch to the WFH mode? It’s time to get in touch with a managed IT service provider who can help you make this move.

Data security in the ‘Work-from-home’ environment

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Data security in the ‘Work-from-home’ environment

2020 threw a lot of challenges at the world. One of them, from the business perspective, that overshadowed the others was cybersecurity. How to ensure data safety and security in an environment where businesses can’t really control what employees do even during work hours? With the world almost a year into the pandemic, new best practices emerged that will be in use not just during the pandemic, but probably also in the future, post-pandemic era. Because the trend of working from home now seems to be here to stay. This blog will discuss some best practices for data security that can be deployed when working remotely.

  • If you can provide your employees with a computer that they will solely access for work, then that solves the majority of the issues. When employees use their own devices for accessing work data, the risk of a security breach is higher as businesses don’t have any control over staff’s personal devices. Your employee’s computer may have security loopholes such as pending updates and security patches or unauthorized software programs. If, instead, it is a company device, you can install control mechanisms that limit what your employees can do with the device. You can impose firewall restrictions, make it a part of your intranet and also monitor employee activities freely.
  • If you are allowing employees to use their personal devices for work purposes, you can encourage them to keep their device safe by alerting them about software updates, security patches and offering to install the latest version of antimalware software for their devices. This is a win-win situation for you and your employees, as you get to keep your data safe, while they get to keep their device and personal data secure.

In either case, you need to educate your employees on the basics of data security. These include password hygiene, identifying phishing attempts, attachment hygiene, etc.

Don’t forget the cloud! The cloud can help you keep your data safe and secure even in the remote working environment by adding layers of data security and eliminating storage of data on local hard drives and removable storage devices. Contact a cloud service provider today to learn more!

What does cyber insurance typically cover?

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What does cyber insurance typically cover?

Pandemic or no pandemic–cyber insurance is a must-have. And, not just that, some of your clients may insist that you have cyber insurance coverage before they trust you with their data–especially if you are operating in the B2B market. Cyber insurance can break the fall in case you become the victim of a cyber attack or some gross malfunction that causes data loss. Here’s a list of things cyber insurance policies typically cover.

Forensic analysis

After a cybersecurity attack, you need to conduct a root cause analysis to identify what went wrong and where, so you can take corrective action to prevent the possibility of it repeating.

Notification expenses, penalties & lawsuits

Along with data breaches come a lot of liabilities including timely notification, fines, penalties, and perhaps even lawsuits for which you will need legal representation.

Revenue loss–direct and indirect

If your business is a victim of cybercrime, you will likely have to shut down your IT infrastructure for some time even as the issue is being resolved or contained. This downtime can cost you quite a bit in terms of lost sales and also employee productivity. Not to mention the damage to your business’s brand name which will have some effect on your sales revenue for at least a few months to come–and add to that the costs of employing a good PR agency to create some positive buzz around your brand to overcome the bitter taste left by the data breach incident.

Apart from the items covered above, which is more like a consequence of data loss, there are two big risks that cyber insurance policy can protect you against–cyber extortion and fund diversion.

Cyber extortion

Remember the WannaCry Ransomware incident that happened in 2017? Cybercriminals used a worm, a form of malware to infiltrate more than 200,000 target computers and freeze user’s access to the data therein. The losses caused by WannaCry are estimated to be in the range of billions of dollars. What would you do if someone held your data hostage or worse still threatened to leak it online? As a business owner, you have no choice but to pay up the ransom amount.

Fund diversion

This is another form of cyber attack, though not as obvious as cyber extortion. Fund diversion is when you or your staff accidentally end up diverting your business funds to a fraudster. For example, your accountant clicked on a phishing link that took them to a clone site of the bank where your company has its account, or they made a payment by clicking on a fraudulent email sent by a cybercriminal posing to be your vendor.

It is important to remember that cyber insurance is still NOT a replacement for cybersecurity. You cannot invest in a cyber insurance policy and not bother about putting data security measures in place. In fact, like any other insurance, cyber insurance will also have exclusions and any laxity on your part in terms of data security can cause your cover to become null and void. This is where a trusted managed services provider can be of help. An experienced MSP can help you pick the right cyber insurance policy based on your needs. They will be able to explain the exclusions clearly to you–in your terms and help you design and maintain the security mechanisms and processes necessitated by the cyber insurance policy.

How the cloud is a solid survival tool for your business during a crisis

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How the cloud is a solid survival tool for your business during a crisis

One thing the Coronavirus pandemic taught businesses is the fact that it is important to move with the times and adopt and adapt to the latest technology. While you don’t have to be the first one in the market to invest in the newest technology, once its effectiveness and usefulness is proven, it does make sense to switch to it. Here’s how the cloud allowed businesses to overcome the challenges posed by having to suddenly switch to the remote operations model.

Challenge-1: Access to critical data and applications

This could have been easily resolved by migrating to the cloud. The cloud offers unparalleled connectivity to your data—from anywhere and at any time, with any internet-enabled device.

Challenge-2: Data safety, cybersecurity concerns

The cloud provides solutions to data safety and cybersecurity challenges as well, as data stored in the cloud is naturally much safer and difficult to break into than data stored on your employee’s home computer. The cloud offers multiple layers of security, including some from your cloud service provider.

Challenge-3: Data loss

With the cloud, businesses wouldn’t have to worry about losing data, as it wouldn’t be stored on their employee’s personal computer, but at a centralized location in the cloud.

Challenge-4: Hardware issues

The cloud rendered any hardware issues non-existent, as the employee’s personal devices were just gateways to access their work stored in the Cloud. They needed devices that met the basic specifications, and the rest of the work was happening online, without additional load on personal devices.

Challenge-5: Phones

Businesses that had adopted the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) were able to overcome this challenge easily. VoIP allows you to communicate by sending voice as data packets using the internet. The VoIP system is primarily software-based and can be accessed from anywhere, using an application that your VoIP provider offers. (Physical instruments are optional). This meant, companies with VoIP systems could keep their office phone numbers responsive even when their staff were working from home.

While these technologies can help a great deal to maintain business continuity, you will need the assistance of a reputable MSP to deploy them and also to ensure they are functioning as they are supposed to. Plus, there are always other security concerns that crop up in a remote working environment when you can’t monitor your staff’s IT activities. Your MSP will be able to offer solutions and control mechanisms that can help put those concerns to rest.

Why does your business need cyber insurance?

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Why does your business need cyber insurance?

The WFH model makes businesses much more vulnerable and easy targets for cybercriminals. Some of the reasons include

  • A lot of people accessing their work data from home networks, which lacks high-level security
  • The inability of businesses to monitor the work-related IT activities of their staff and,
  • The use of personal devices by employees for work purposes

Businesses can overcome this challenge through a combination of tools and actions such as

  • Installing anti-malware software
  • Putting in firewalls to safeguard their work network
  • Having clear and effective IT policies in place when operations are remote
  • Providing staff with laptops or desktops to use for work purposes during the WFH phase
  • Training employees to identify cyber threats and steer clear of them
  • Educating employees on password hygiene and cybersecurity best practices

However, these measures are no guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong! When you lose data accidentally or, when your data is compromised or held ransom, your first thought would be to get access to your data and get your business back on its feet. Yes, you will want to call in for a trusted IT services provider to put your business back on track quickly. But, it is not that simple. If you don’t have a service level agreement with an IT service provider, it may be difficult to find one instantly and also, challenging to find someone who you can trust with your situation. Even if you do find someone, chances are, they will charge you exorbitant rates by the hour.

Cyber insurance typically covers direct and indirect costs arising from cybersecurity incidents. One malicious attachment could bring the whole IT infrastructure crashing down. And, if there’s a data breach where confidential information has been compromised, then you’d be looking at hefty compensation payouts. That is why you need cyber insurance. Cyber insurance is not something new, but it has never been so important as it is now.