6 Challenges When Protecting a Distributed Workforce

The working model used by many organisations has been changed forever over the last two years. The forced remote working due to the pandemic has shown that a distributed working model doesn’t necessarily lead to a drop in productivity. Indeed, many information workers like the flexibility that comes from not having to travel to and from an office location every day. In the future, we’ll see the hybrid working model become the norm in many organisations. People will spend some time in the office, some time working from home, and other times working from shared working spaces or other business hubs close to their homes.

6 challenges when protecting a distributed workforce

When employees connect to professional networks remotely the cyber-threat level rises. Elements such as the expansion of the security perimeter of organizations when working remotely or the proliferation of threats from COVID-19-related topics have changed the way we understand cybersecurity. But there are other, more specific challenges to check in this eBook that make it more difficult for MSPs to protect clients that have a remotely distributed workforce. These 6 challenges are:

Digital distraction: On average, an employee receives around 121 emails per day, according to data from the consulting firm McKinsey. But availability tends to grow when working from home and employees are more likely to log on outside working hours. According to a Pulse survey, around 60% of IT managers say that disconnecting after work is the most difficult area for remote users.
IT teams overwhelmed by the new reality: Most IT staff say that technical support requests have risen by 39% because of remote working, citing issues such as VPNs, video conferencing and password resets as the main reasons for this increase.
Brands at risk: The consequences of cybersecurity incidents can cause significant damage to an organization's reputation and in some cases organizations don’t recover their previous status. A successful attack can crash your systems, shut down your business and prevent you from providing the service your customers expect.
Low cybersecurity budgets: Even though, in theory, it is a top priority for IT managers, more than 70% of companies spend less than 2% of profits on cybersecurity. Even with more people than ever working remotely, more than half of companies spend less than $1,000 per employee in this area.
Talent shortage: The lack of cybersecurity skills and training is a growing problem, especially for SMEs. More than 76% of organizations are understaffed to meet cybersecurity needs. On average, an IT team member stays three years at the most in the same position, so you need your team to be able to progress quickly to manage cybersecurity effectively.
Non-integrated cybersecurity solutions: A medium-sized organization often uses four or even more tools for vulnerability management, and 79% of IT managers admit that it takes more than 48 hours to patch a vulnerability. Solutions for multiple services and access points without integration between them do not share adequate context and analysis to identify threats correctly. Each cybersecurity product requires its own administration, training, technical support and operational processes. All of this leads to situations where 41% of IT managers indicate that they never or rarely have time to review cybersecurity logs and analysis.

Given the current situation, MSPs must be able to provide their clients with cybersecurity solutions that offer protection, detection and response at all endpoints, network security with VPN protection for remote working and advanced firewalls, Wi-Fi security and identity control of all users.

In addition, these challenges also demonstrate that the cybersecurity offering must be well integrated so that it does not just rely on a number of different tools that are more or less consolidated, but runs in a cohesive way on a single platform that simplifies and automates all your technologies. This integration acts as a force multiplier.

To find out more, please visit: https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-partners/unified-security-platform-partners

Connect with WatchGuard Experts at Cyber Expo

Experts from WatchGuard will be attending Cyber Expo & Conference Ireland 2022. They will be present in the Expo Hall, where you can chat with them about their platform. They will also be part of the expert presentations and panel discussions within the “Complimenting the Microsoft Security Stack” stream. The Cyber Expo & Conference Ireland is on the 28th of April 2022 in The Leopardstown Pavilion at Leopardstown Racecourse, and you can register to attend via this Eventbrite page.

Find Out More

Renaissance and WatchGuard partner to make the Unified Security Platform™ for Partners available in the Irish market. If you want to find out more, contact us to chat with an expert, and don’t forget to sign up to attend the Expo.