Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, more and more people around the world have been working from home. Based on the good experiences during the crisis, many companies are planning to continue this practice even after the pandemic. Now, a study commissioned by the security company Cyber-Ark a survey of 2,000 home office workers in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the U.S. have been asked that this move poses a security risk to companies.
Accordingly, many companies could be successful even without complex methods, with which recently the Pentagon and NASA were infiltrated, are under attack. This is because more than half (59 %) of home office workers say they do not follow security rules to increase their productivity. Examples include company documents that go beyond the personal E-mail or personal passwords that are shared with colleagues.
Additional software opens the door to hackers
Another frequently encountered security problem is additional Softwarethat employees install on their computers without approval from the IT department. This is prohibited by the security policies in almost all companies. More than half (54 %) of those working in a home office said they also use the work computer for private purposes. More than a third (34 %) even go one step further and let family and friends use the work computer as well.
In addition, many people (91 %) use the same password for all their private and professional accounts. If a data theft should occur, all other accounts, including security-relevant company accesses of a person, can thus also be compromised.
In order to provide a little more security in the future, Cyber-Ark has published two guides (1, 2), which enable even laymen to avoid the most serious security errors.
