New research from the cybersecurity software company SentryBay has revealed that almost half (49%) of employees working remotely feel vulnerable online due to the insecurity of the company laptops and PCs they are using to connect to corporate networks.
The firm surveyed 1,550 UK employees working from home during the pandemic to better understand the security issues they've faced while working remotely.
SentryBay's survey found that 42 percent of respondents received suspicious emails while 18 percent have dealt with a security breach while working from home. Of those who suffered a cyberattack, over half (51%) believed it was because they clicked on a malicious link and 18 percent believed an infected attachment was responsible.
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Additionally, 42 percent of respondents reported that someone else in their household had experienced a hack of their social media accounts during the lockdown.
Additional protection
When the respondents were asked whether they had been given additional IT software or security measures to protect their devices during lockdown, only 21 percent said they did not or didn't know if they had, which suggests that organizations had considered the threat to their corporate networks of unprotected endpoints.
Of those who were given additional protection, 41 percent received standard antivirus software while over half (56%) were provided with access to a VPN. However, only 28 percent reported receiving protection specifically tailored to the endpoints and applications they were using.
CEO of SentryBay, Dave Waterson provided further insight on the survey's findings and how the pandemic has changed working dynamics, saying:
“The pandemic is likely to change working dynamics permanently. But as things stand currently many companies will need to make changes when it comes to security. Our research shows that over 67% of employees are reliant on VPNs and cloud services to communicate and be collaborative right now, but breaches are happening at an escalated rate, and this not only exposes vital company data, it could also lead to hefty fines if organisations fall foul of GDPR. Now is the time to take action.”
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