A secure VPN

Virtual Private Networks have long been the benchmark solution for remote working, but with the spread of COVID-19, we are seeing companies moving from maintaining a few VPN licenses for specific instances to deploying them for their whole workforce. However, there's a good reason for this – if implemented correctly, it maximises security by encrypting all data you send through your company network. While you may require a cloud-based solution for specific applications, a quality VPN is an intelligent foundation for your day-to-day work.

A password manager

It's no secret that reusing passwords across different platforms presents a great risk of cyber criminals accessing corporate systems through guesswork. Nonetheless, it's still tempting for employees to do so due to the difficulty in keeping track of large numbers of unique passwords, especially when they need to be regularly updated, in line with internal security protocols. Fortunately, a password manager tool which integrates with your web browser makes it easy to keep your passwords secure, while still ensuring they are available when you need them. Ask your IT team if they recommend a specific one.

Automated backups

External backups are a key part of any effective business continuity and disaster recovery strategy, which should still be the case when you're working from home rather than the office. Your company is likely to have a system in place for this, particularly if you have already adopted a cloud-based strategy, so ensure you follow all guidelines when you begin remote working.

The right WFH solution

One of the biggest obstacles to remote working in the past has been the need to maintain continuity with existing business processes and systems, ensuring work can be conducted as normal, without compromising either security or efficiency. Fortunately, there are several ways of doing this, but it's important to be conscious of security when using such solutions, and always use the one recommended by your IT team. A proven, trusted platform like Exponential-e's Working from Home solution is ideal, allowing teams to continue using your company's preferred tools as normal, regardless of where they are logging on from. This will ensure a smooth transition to remote working for the entire workforce.

Two-factor or multi-factor authentication

Related to the above, two-factor or multi-factor authentication provides an extra level of peace of mind, by creating an extra obstacle for cyber criminals, even if one of your passwords is compromised. As password theft measures have become increasingly sophisticated over the years, this is no longer a 'nice to have' measure - it should be a standard part of your remote working systems and wider security policies.

Effective anti-virus protection

Viruses continue to evolve on a near-daily basis, and which means a robust anti-virus solution should still be your first line of defence and may even give you time to secure your infrastructure in the event of a password being compromised. Make sure an industry-standard solution is installed on all your devices and enable automatic updates.

Always be suspicious of links

Cyber-crime is constantly evolving and shows no signs of slowing down during our current pandemic, which means we must all stay vigilant and exercise caution before clicking on any links we receive. Even if a link is from a legitimate-looking email address, check before clicking on it, as you can hover over it with your cursor to view the URL. If you have any concerns, alert your security team. In particular, watch out for 'working from home' scams, where fake websites offer 'home testing' kits or – in certain cases – cures for COVID-19. Avoid these at all costs, in order to keep both your personal bank account and your organisation's network secure.

Stay smart when sharing documents

When connecting to your company network from home, it's important that you ensure all the same security measures that would be utilised in the office are still in place, with all communications properly encrypted. Your IT team should always have an established set of procedures and tools for securely sharing documents – especially those that contain sensitive data – so be sure to revise this if you haven't already and avoid using any third-party platforms for this purpose. 

Lock your device!

Most professionals are already familiar with best practice whenever it comes to leaving devices unattended in the workplace, and in our current lockdown, it's unlikely any of us will accidentally leave work devices on public transport. But it's' essential that we do not let those practices slip while we're working from home. We've all heard funny stories in the news about when children get access to their parents' phones, but when our devices are connected to our business networks, it's important that they're 100% inaccessible to everyone except us. Even something as simple as a family member clicking on an unsecure website could lead to a costly security breach.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport found that only 32% of charities have performed a cyber-risk assessment in the last 12 months (The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019), meaning there are a significant number of charities that could potentially not understand all of their vulnerabilities. The cyber landscape is constantly evolving, and it is vital that all charities are aware of their risks and vulnerabilities so that the appropriate control measures can be put in place to protect them. Throughout my years of experience, I have found that if an organisation does not fully understand its risks, money is often wasted, and controls may not be as effective as they need to be.

At Exponential-e, most of our customers have set up VPN connections for their remote workers or virtual desktops for employees that aren't provided with laptops. However, there is still the potential risk for an uncontrolled, infected endpoint to unknowingly distribute malware into an organisation and consequently, take down all systems. Several organisations have been affected by ransomware attacks recently, which have all originated from a malicious phishing email. In order to reduce the success rate of phishing attacks, all users need to be educated to be able to identify a phishing email, and to know how to react effectively in order to stop them, see my Top Tips for Working From Home video for more information.

Increasingly, charities are reliant on online services – donation platforms and login pages – and consequently, many charities are falling victim to cyberattacks. Smaller charities are often more vulnerable, since they have less awareness of cyber security as a whole and are naïve to the risks they may face from a cyberattack. The National Cyber Security Centres' (NCSC) 'Cyber Threat Assessment: UK Charity Sector', identified that the most common vector for cyberattacks against charities were phishing emails; fraudulent emails, containing links to fraudulent websites. These impersonation attacks are dangerous, and often lead to malicious software making their way into IT systems. If a charity loses access to their online services, it could result in an existential threat to their survival – from the ensuing reputational damage and the prevention of service delivery.

Being one of the founding members and a current board member of The Cyber Helpline, a free, confidential helpline for individuals who have fallen victim to cyber crime. I use my expertise to help individuals contain, recover and learn from cyber attacks. The Cyber Helpline was designed and developed in the cloud, and we have continuously made sure that the infrastructure is always protected and tested each month. The founding members of The Cyber Helpline have come from the cyber security industry, subsequently we have been able to ensure that the security by design was in place from day one. 

This service uses chat-bot technology, which was developed to help triage any incidents. When we first started out, we were worried that we might not have adequate resources to cope with the quantity of incidents occurring, so the use of this technology helped in addressing this risk. Our chat-bot can ask relevant questions, to help us identify what the incident is in relation to, and which classification it falls into, so that we can react accordingly. If an incident could cause harm to an individual, it is quickly escalated through to a volunteer or manager, to ensure it is handled appropriately. In other cases, when the incident can be resolved through following a set of step-by-step instructions, we provide the individuals with an appropriate guide, so that they are able to help themselves. Our volunteers use their own systems to access the cloud environment, but we train them thoroughly as part of the on-boarding process. Additionally, all our volunteers have anti malware solutions in place, to protect their systems, and are able to accurately identify phishing emails.

There are still many charities that are not able to employ a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and have yet to act and seek external help to mitigate the risks posed by cyberattacks. Even for those who have received external help with their cyber security, it is still crucial for them to stay on top of the evolving threat landscape. Accepting advice and guidance is important in preventing the damaging effects of cybercrime.

At Exponential-e, we welcome the opportunity to help any charity needing assistance with cyber security questions or solutions. Our Cyber Security team exists to support and educate our customers, especially those who are in the vulnerable position of knowing that cyber security is a threat, but are less aware of the solutions required to protect their organisations against it. We are consistently on hand when required, to supply knowledge and give support to our customers, all whilst maintaining and renewing our own knowledge base, to remain up-to-date with current threats in the industry and how best to mitigate against them. We abide by integrity, reliability and perseverance, in order to provide the best cyber security solutions for our customers' individual requirements.

We are currently hosting a series of webinars around different areas of cyber security, click here for more details.