Is your IT security up to the challenge of remote access?

Remote access can bring a huge boost to your employees’ productivity when they’re away from your office. They can get things done whilst travelling to and from meetings, work from home, and you can even hire far flung talent and not worry about them being out of the loop. However, ensuring your business enjoys these benefits means having good IT security practices in place. Otherwise your employees won’t be the only ones handling your data.

Think of your IT security like arriving at an airport to catch a flight. Before you can sit down and get comfortable you have online check-ins, ticket checks, passport checks… then it’s armed police, sniffer dogs and various scans. It’s all necessary to ensure the wrong person doesn’t get onto the plane. If you can create an IT security plan that’s just as solid, with its own electronic sniffer dogs in place, your business can safely enjoy the increased productivity, flexibility and responsiveness that remote access brings. And you won’t have to the worry about the wrong people getting on board your system and causing costly and malicious havoc.

Corbel’s advice for keeping your IT security tight.

Build strong layers. Firewalls, multiform authentication and strong password policies are a must. We’re looking at you, Dave1983.

Control who has access to what. Not everyone needs the run of all your data. Financial information should be carefully hidden from all but those who need it as part of their role. And that’s a good general rule for all your data. Users should have access to what they need, and only that.

Regular audits of your security access. Take the time to review who has access to your systems. Does the work experience girl from two years ago still need privileges? Has the contractor you used at the beginning of the year still got access? It’s important to keep things up to date.

Educate your team. This is the most important. Remind your staff again and again how they’re the front-line when it comes to protecting your security. Sharing a password to save the hassle of logging in again or leaving a laptop on a train can undermine every other security measure you put in place. If they understand this and put it into practice, you’ve already won half the battle against cyber criminals.

With these tips, you can empower your employees with remote access, and be reassured that your data is safe and sound in the right hands.

Visit www.corbel.co.uk to find out more