ThinkTWENTY20

One of the major implications of the pandemic has been the necessity for people to work away from the office at home or elsewhere. Many companies were not ready for this and in fact had avoided it out of fears for security and privacy. But now they have had to implement security for systems moving off premises. It includes people working at home and also people working on the move, using mobile devices, including phones and tablets.

The prospect of allowing access to corporate systems from unprotected home computers and other devices through networks inadequate for the task and using utilities and apps that were never designed for important corporate activities is the stuff of nightmares for IT Security officers.

Since there hasn’t been time in many cases to really set up proper protection, interviews of corporate security personnel carried out by CEO Magazine reveal that the security officers have been relying extensively on communications about proper security practices, and exhortations to actually adopt the proper practices. Also, security profiles have had to be revamped to allow only the absolutely necessary functions in the circumstances. That’s always the general rule for access, but the pandemic has meant a tightening of the application of the rules.

The interviews also show that there is a general feeling that after the pandemic, if there is an “after”, it is likely that many of the new offsite working habits will continue, so there are plans developing to acquire and implement the additional tools to accommodate a greater percentage of offsite workers. That may not be a bad outcome.