In the era of remote work, organisations implemented technology to facilitate their staff to work effectively and securely.
Yet, many had to adapt their existing security technology for the new environment, with little budget for new solutions better suited to remote working environments.
As a new year unfolds, the hybrid working model underscores the challenges plaguing the post-pandemic state of enterprise cybersecurity.
Employees are working in the office as well as remotely, connecting to corporate networks from various devices. There is a growing need for data to be accessible to employees while keeping it secure.
A new year brings inspiration to revamp work habits, and the same can be extended to organisations looking to extend their market reach
This year organisations must reassess their security approach to strengthen management and protection of corporate data. This will help them to understand how their data is being stored and accessed, to further enable collaborative technology in hybrid settings.
Revaluating where data is stored and accessed
For organisations to revaluate their security, they should be asking what data is most sensitive, how it is stored, who has access to it, and how regularly is it being accessed.
Addressing these questions will help organisations assess risk, formulate a plan, and determine the most effective approach to managing their sensitive information securely in the new world of hybrid work. A better understanding of data location, security posture, and access – establishes a solid foundation to operate from when managing security.
Cyber resilience is a common goal for many organisations when safeguarding their data, but older technologies can wane in efficacy as cybercriminals change their tactics.
Organisations with limited budget are unable to refresh their cybersecurity tech stack.
Cybercriminals continue to deploy innovative tactics to exploit weaknesses such as less secure employer-owned devices connected through home internet systems.
As attackers continue to thrive in a highly porous security environment, organisations need to be mindful of new blind spots and new technology requirements to ensure that there are no gaps in the security systems.
Enabling secure anytime-anywhere access
Once data is securely stored, managed, and accessed, organisations can approach their collaborative tools with the intent of enabling ‘anytime-anywhere’ access. Hybrid work offers employees flexibility of working from various locations.
Although this sounds ideal, ensuring that employees have the required visibility and access to the required information remains a challenge. Traditional methods of sharing, managing and storing content are no longer applicable in the face of the pandemic.
The answer that many organisations have found when implementing technology to guarantee employees with ‘anytime-anywhere’ access in the cloud.
An increasing number of organisations are embracing the power of cloud content management to give them and their employees the agility, flexibility and control that they need to succeed in remote working settings.
Digitalisation has helped provide organisations with resilience during the pandemic.
However this increased connectivity occurs against a backdrop of cyber attackers aggressively looking to compromise endpoints – causing increasing concerns about data privacy, and making data protection a priority for every organisation.
Once business leaders create an action plan to protect their organisation, employee and consumers – it will allow for greater collaboration and productivity amongst employees without fear of making headline news for falling victim to cybercriminals.
Mike Saxton is the Regional Vice President ANZ at OpenText
