A coalition of 13 nonprofit organizations announced today the launch of the “Work From Home. Secure Your Business.” campaign.
As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, organizations are increasingly working remotely to help support social distancing. While teleworking is a vital part of the effort to “flatten the curve,” it does present business – especially small and medium businesses – with new cybersecurity risks. Earlier this month the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a bulletin note from the Information Technology Laboratory saying that organizations should assume that their telework networks will be compromised.
With that in mind, organizations, including the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), Aspen Digital, and The Cyber Readiness Institute, have joined to help shore up the security of the remote workforce.
“While many corporations and government agencies have security protocols and teams of people in place, smaller businesses are not equipped to do that,” said Philip Reitinger, GCA’s president and CEO. “Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good; let’s encourage everyone to take a few key steps and then consider if they can do more.”
As part of the campaign, businesses can access actionable guidance, as well as tools and step-by-step instructions on how companies and remote employees can better secure the home environment.
The campaign is urging both employers and employees to take a few simple steps to reduce cyber risk:
- Update personal and company systems and applications
- Implement two-factor authentication for access to company services
- Use a protective Domain Name System service
The campaign has also launched the Work From Home Community Forum. Employers and employees can use the forum to ask questions and get assistance from community security experts. The Forum also includes resources from non-campaign partners and government agencies. In a statement, GCA noted that the new content will be added to the forum on a weekly basis.
“Although addressing the cyber risks posed by a remote workforce may seem daunting, taking a few, basic cybersecurity measures can dramatically lower those risks,” said Michael Daniel, CTA president and CEO. Further, these measures will still be useful once the pandemic has passed and operations return to normal. These are long-term investments, not just short-term band-aids.”
