Introduction
The global pandemic forced organizations to transition workers home, creating compliance and risk management challenges. Many financial institutions maintain clean desk policies that become difficult to enforce in distributed work settings.
Common Questions About Remote Work Environment
- What are the risks of working from home?
- How do I keep my data safe with employees working from home?
- Should I change my compliance management program to accommodate working from home?
- How can I ensure my data is secure with remote workers?
What are the Risks of Working from Home?
Data security challenges intensify without adequate telework preparation. Organizations must develop written risk management policies communicated to all employees. Collaborating with human resources, legal teams, and information security professionals strengthens approaches. Existing security frameworks should be adapted rather than rebuilt from scratch.
Corporate networks require isolation through firewalls and human resource practices. Access termination for departing workers demands close HR and systems administration coordination. Organizations should maintain accurate records of employee access to non-company systems and utilize internal audit departments for access reviews.
How Do I Keep My Data Safe with Employees Working from Home?
Data protection requires limiting access on a need-to-know basis. Implementing data classification schemes separates routine materials (marketing) from sensitive information (pricing, proprietary assets), restricting access to smaller groups.
Personal devices must remain technically prohibited from accessing company resources. This includes external storage devices and personal email accounts. Organizations should deploy web filtering preventing non-approved cloud storage and add automated data leakage protection tools to email systems.
Employees should store information exclusively in centralized locations, with optional restrictions on home printer usage to prevent data loss.
Should I Change Risk Management Program to Accommodate Working from Home?
Remote work may persist beyond pandemic conditions, warranting updated risk management programs embracing both in-office and remote arrangements. Clean desk policies exemplify activities requiring context-specific application. Telework policies should include processes for temporarily suspending or granting exceptions for particular activities, with close monitoring ensuring reinstatement when office work resumes.
Advanced threat detection tools identifying unusual user behavior (accessing numerous files) provide additional protection. Internet browsing monitoring can identify attempts to reach risky non-approved services.
How Do I Ensure My Data is Secure with Remote Workers?
Security professionals must maintain diligent oversight in remote environments. While control establishment matters, monitoring and adjustment prove equally critical. Identified issues require rapid remediation.
The security approach should emphasize continuous improvement and avoiding repeated mistakes. Internal and external audits should continue at equal or increased frequency. Continuous examination and assessment through inspection and observation help identify risks and close gaps.
Organizations should implement routine cycles: assess, implement, measure, and re-evaluate. Subscribing to news sources like US-Cert keeps organizations updated on emerging threats. Data loss events can prove catastrophic, necessitating dedicated security resources and leadership commitment prioritizing security projects and expenditures.
Leadership demonstrates commitment through robust compliance management systems, maintaining policy adherence across organizations and third-party vendors.
Originally published September 16, 2021. Updated December 6, 2023 with current remote work risk management practices.
