A new report has discovered that 67% of remote workers are using faulty tech when they are working remotely. Often that’s because they’ve accidentally damaged the tech themselves they don’t want to admit it to their boss in case they get into trouble.

A survey of 2,500 remote workers found that laptops were most likely to be broken, followed by keyboards, monitors, and PCs.
Most of the time the damage was done by spilled food and drink. Other causes of damage included other people in the house such as a partner or housemates – and of course, pets.

We’ve all watched in horror as a cat brushes up against a full glass of water next to a laptop. While more than half of people try to fix the damage, and 81% of people continue to use their faulty devices with limited features, a third of workers switch to their personal devices instead.
As well as this causing a loss of productivity, it could also be a huge data security risk for your business. It’s possible, even likely, their personal laptop doesn’t have proactively monitored security protection as their work laptop does, including:

• • • Security software
    • Data encryption
    • Multi-factor authentication

When an attacker gains access to an unmanaged device, if it’s connected to your network, it also can give them unmonitored access to your infrastructure and all of your business’s data.

This can result in your data being stolen and sold. Or worse, your data is encrypted and held for ransom. However, you already have a plan for that … right? No? Ransomware is the most common cyber security threat to your business right now.
It’s not just access to your data that’s the problem. After a ransomware attack, there is a huge time and financial cost involved in making sure your network is clean, protected and secured … if you aren’t prepared.

Shring’s recommendation is to start with evaluating your employee’s Security Awareness. This includes helping them understand the risks associated with using personal devices, whether they work remotely or not. Some will say “Just block any non-business managed device from accessing your infrastructure”. And honestly, that would be ideal however this is not practical with many organizations.

We can help evaluate your current exposures and assist you in choosing the right security approach for your organization, or implementing new policies to help your staff protect your critical business data, give us a call.