Why Work from Home Shouldn’t Be a Security Concern

Are you worried your work-from-home employees are more susceptible to cybersecurity attacks?

After being forced to go fully remote during the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations now require their employees to return to the office full time. This is despite those employees being able to perform their jobs remotely without issue.

So, why fix what isn’t broken?

A survey of more than 200 IT professionals conducted by Huntress, a cybersecurity firm, found that 61% of organizations’ cybersecurity concerns about remote and hybrid employees influenced their decision to return to the office.

It’s understandable why business decision-makers might feel this way, but there are a plethora of security tools and training programs available to securely protect your organization’s data, regardless of where your employees work.

And this kind of protection doesn’t have to break the bank.

Here are six things you can do to secure your work-from-home employees.

1. Provide Company Laptops

Employees should never use their personal computers or laptops to access company data.

It introduces security issues, as you can’t ensure the operating system and other software are up to date, can’t enforce multifactor authentication (MFA) and it’s much harder to enforce strong password usage for work accounts. Any work files downloaded to a personal computer will remain available when the employee leaves or is terminated.

Additionally, personal computers lack encryption tools that protect your data if the device is lost, stolen or compromised.

With a company-provided laptop, your IT staff or managed service provider has greater control over the device, allowing them to set appropriate permissions and block unnecessary downloads or access to inappropriate websites.

2. Deploy Entra Internet Access

Microsoft Entra Internet Access ensures remote employees’ connections are private and protected, allowing them to securely access your organization’s cloud applications and the internet.

It’s similar to a VPN — not an exact replacement — as it secures access to cloud tools such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox, or Salesforce.

You can prohibit employees from accessing your company data (email, Teams, SharePoint) until they are proven to be on a safe connection. You get the assurance that company data stays protected without depending on employees to make judgment calls about network safety.

And if you still use on-premises servers, Microsoft also offers Entra Private Access, which allows remote employees to access on-premises applications securely, much like a VPN. However, it runs automatically in the background, so employees don’t have to think about VPN anymore to use it.

3. Implement Windows Hello for Business

Passkeys are the future of security, and Windows Hello for Business is a good first start toward a passwordless future.

Instead of using a password to sign in to your computer or other Microsoft 365 applications, Windows Hello lets you sign in with a PIN or biometrics (fingerprint or facial ID).

Unlike passwords, a PIN is tied to the device, which means it can’t be used to sign in remotely. Same with biometrics: they reside on the device, so you don’t have to worry about Microsoft accessing them.

It’s one less thing to remember, and it’s more secure than passwords because they can’t be stolen or accidentally given away.

4. Enforce Strong Password Usage

If you’re not ready to implement passkeys yet, one of the simplest and quickest ways to improve your organization’s security posture is to enforce strong password usage.

This means:

• Passwords should be at least 15 characters long
• Don’t force password changes every 30, 60 or 90 days
• Don’t make symbols, numbers and uppercase letters mandatory

Complexity used to be the primary factor in selecting secure passwords, but now it’s all about length and uniqueness. A passphrase of “GreenPhoneTurkeyDrive” is much stronger than “P@$$W0rD2025,” easier to remember and doesn’t fall into a pattern that can be easily guessed.

If you’ve got too many passwords to remember, try using a password manager. There are free versions of LastPass, Bitwarden, KeePass and Dashlane that can generate secure passwords for you and store them safely.

Eventually, Microsoft wants to eliminate passwords altogether, so it’s important to recognize that passwords ultimately will be considered archaic by modern security standards.

5. Mandate Multifactor Authentication

On top of strong passwords, you want to ensure your work accounts use MFA.

Passwords can be stolen, but MFA factors are much harder to steal/spoof. Mandating MFA requires a second factor to access accounts. Passkeys are a modern type of MFA, which is why there’s such a big push for them.

Second factors for MFA include:

• Something you have: Your phone
• Something you are: A fingerprint
• Somewhere you are: An approved location

Just how important is MFA? According to Microsoft, your account is more than 99.2% less likely to be compromised if you use MFA.

6. Conduct Regular Cybersecurity Training

And while you can implement all the security tools in the world, they won’t stop an attacker from tricking your employees into giving them access to their accounts. All it takes is one click from a malicious email to bring down your entire organization.

Conducting regular cybersecurity training helps keep it top of mind for your employees, making them more vigilant against threats. Additionally, attackers are continually finding new ways to trick people, so regular training keeps your employees up to date on emerging tactics.

Furthermore, make it easy for your employees to report suspicious-looking emails. We offer our clients a Phish Alert Button that is located at the top of every email in Outlook. Our tool scans the email and decides if it is malicious.

This tool also allows us to remove similar emails from other employees’ inboxes, reducing the likelihood of the attack succeeding.

Secure Your Remote Employees

Remote employees can be just as protected as those who work in the office. If your employees prefer the flexibility of working outside the office, we can discuss ways to keep your data secure.

Don’t wait until a data breach or cyberattack to improve your organization’s security posture. Contact us today to schedule a consultation, and let’s secure your business before the next threat hits.

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