When employees transition from working in the closely-guarded walls of an office to the wild unknown of remote locations, companies have to come up with an entirely new security game plan to ensure they mitigate any and all risks and attacks related to remote work security. To make this process less stressful, the following checklist is a great starting point to help safeguard your company’s assets and confidential information while employees work remotely.
1) Determine which endpoint protection you will require for WFH employees.
When employees work remotely, the level of control you had over their computers while in the office is no longer possible. This is when endpoint protection, like Windows Defender, becomes a necessary antivirus tool in order to protect them. Requiring all home employees to use an antivirus tool on any machine that access company resources is also highly recommended. In addition, consider if you need to use alternative cloud-based means to monitor workstations and review what support console tools you currently use as well as the necessary licenses needed to access computers that aren’t part of your domain.
2) Implement two-factor authentication (2FA).
To enhance security, companies should consider implementing two-factor authentication (2FA) when adding more remote access solutions. This ensures that only authorized admins and users are allowed in, preventing attackers from gaining access. Even if companies need to move quickly to allow employees to work remotely, they can still add 2FA as a quick and easy solution.
3) Use a virtual private network (VPN).
VPNs have been a mainstay in remote work security for years, but recently several high-profile vulnerabilities have been exposed. To mitigate the risk, companies should ensure that VPN solutions are up-to-date on the server or firewall, as well as on employees’ computers. In addition, companies should consider using alternative VPN solutions that offer better security. For example, DesignRush offers valuable insights on VPN solutions, aiding businesses in making the right choice for remote work security.
4) Educate employees on COVID-19 scams and update acceptable use policies.
The National Cyber Awareness system recently sent out an announcement of current COVID-19 scams making the rounds, so remind your team not to click on unsolicited emails and to only use trusted, official websites. Additionally, setting up a central online bulletin board can help ensure that all employees receive timely updates and notifications. Companies should also verify that their acceptable computer use policies are up-to-date and reflect best practices for remote usage.
5) Take a proactive security approach to remote work security and schedule a threat assessment, as well as a review of the impact to firewalls, conditional access policies, and other logging.
Stay ahead of potential security risks and attacks with a proactive security approach— going beyond the standard vulnerability snapshot from a set of external-facing IPs or a wireless internal segmentation assessment. Consider taking a more comprehensive snapshot of everything that’s happening, including all remote connections, all critical assets, and users that are connecting to remote systems from various locations. Threat-hunting workshops are also a good idea to help determine how a malicious actor might break into a system.
Companies that use geoblocking in their firewall to restrict access from different locations should review and revise their policies to account for the fact that employees will be logging in from various locations while working remotely.
You may also need to increase bandwidth for inbound traffic to your organization and potentially diagnose and determine if remote employees have appropriate bandwidth to support Office work and video conferencing, if your company relies on cloud services. Lastly, find out if the security settings of home firewalls and internet providers will block some of your intended remote access.
FAQ: Remote Work Security
What are the most important security measures for remote work?
Five fundamentals: endpoint protection on every device that touches company data, two-factor authentication on all accounts, VPN or equivalent secure access, ongoing employee security training, and clear policies for how remote work happens. Together they cover the main ways remote setups get breached — and most breaches GCS investigates trace back to one of these five being absent.
Why is remote work a security risk?
Because work leaves the controlled office environment: home networks are unmanaged, personal devices creep in, and the physical cues that made scams harder — walking over to verify a request — are gone. Attackers adapted to this quickly; phishing and account takeover both got easier when the workforce dispersed, and hybrid-heavy markets like Austin felt it early.
Do remote employees need a VPN?
For access to internal systems, yes — a VPN encrypts traffic between the employee and your network so home and public Wi-Fi stop being a weak link. For businesses fully on Microsoft 365, identity-based controls like Conditional Access carry much of that load instead, verifying who and what device is connecting rather than trusting a network. Either way, unencrypted access to sensitive systems from untrusted networks is never acceptable.
Should employees use personal devices for work?
Only under a policy that manages them — unmanaged personal devices are invisible to your security tooling. Microsoft Intune can enforce encryption, screen locks, and the ability to wipe company data from a personal phone without touching personal photos or messages. If a device can reach company data, it needs to be under management; the alternative is hoping, and hope is not a control.
How often should employees get security training?
Ongoing beats annual — short, regular touchpoints with simulated phishing keep awareness current in a threat landscape that changes monthly. A once-a-year compliance video is forgotten by February. GCS runs continuous awareness training with phishing simulation for managed clients because the metric that matters is click rate over time, not course completion.
Who can set up secure remote work for an Austin business?
A provider with Microsoft 365 depth can do this almost entirely with licensing you already own: Intune for devices, Conditional Access for identity, Defender for endpoints. GCS Technologies builds secure remote and hybrid work setups for Austin-area businesses on exactly that stack — if you evaluate anyone, ask them to inventory what your current licenses include before they quote you new tools.