Cybersecurity in the home office

After almost two years of pandemic, many companies are ready for homeoffice. Conscientious consultations led to the decision on the most suitable collaboration tool. The implementation was carried out carefully and the mobile devices were equipped with existing and new communication channels. The employees are trained and use the UCC platform diligently. The decentralized work is now working really well.

But with the new work environment, there are new dangers. Cyber attacks have been increasing since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic. In November 2021, a project group consisting of employees from Mobiliar, digitalswitzerland, FHNW, SATW and gfs-zurich published a study. In June / July 2021, 506 SME executives were asked about the status of home office use and cybersecurity. The survey was carried out a year earlier, which means that the results can now be compared.

Before the first lockdown in March 2020, 10% of employees were working from home. This number takes into account SMEs in which this was possible for at least one employee. During the initial lockdown, the number rose to 38%. After opening, it stayed at 16%. In the second lockdown, 36% worked from home. It is exciting that the number has now leveled off at 20%. Thus, compared to before the beginning of the crisis, twice as many people work from home.

The participants named social, technical and organizational factors such as team spirit, the regulation of external data access or the furnishing of the workplace as the greatest challenges for the implementation of the home office. Larger SMEs in particular got support for their implementation. Almost a third of SMEs use the expertise of external IT service providers to provide their IT infrastructure.

The executives surveyed know that cybercrime is a serious problem. Nevertheless, a fifth feel they are not or not at all informed about it. Compared to the 25% from the 2020 survey, 36% of SMEs now stated that they had already suffered a cyber attack that caused considerable damage. This corresponds to an increase of 44% within one year.

The most commonly used techniques of successful cyberattacks are: malware / viruses / trojans with 23%, online fraud with 15% and data theft / data loss with 7%. These numbers have all increased compared to the previous year.

Our goal is to strengthen technical, organizational and human security aspects. We check and analyze your IT infrastructure as well as telephony and UCC systems for their IT security. Cybersecurity becomes an indispensable part of management, especially in times of increased home office activity. Use our experience with remote work, communication tools and security for your company.

Find out more about our security service or contact us with a non-binding inquiry.

This is in spite of highly advanced technical measures to increase cybersecurity. Organizational and human factors also contribute to vulnerability, and this is exactly where there is a lot of potential, according to the survey.

UC&C Projects supports you with partner companies in the planning and implementation of organizational IT security measures that lack in many SMEs. According to the study, just under half of the SMEs surveyed have an IT security concept. To this end, 3/5 do not train their employees on a regular basis or do not carry out any IT security audits.
The Allianz study from January 2021 already showed how important it is that employees are adequately informed about cyber attacks and trained in preventive measures.

For 23% (2020 still 9%) of the SMEs surveyed, the obligation to work from home led to increased technical measures against cyber attacks. The most common ones include the installation of additionally purchased software (25%), the use of a firewall (22%), the use of secure passwords (21%) and regular software updates (15%).

Less emphasis was placed on implementing of a security concept (8%), setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network, 8%), performing a security audit (5%) or encrypting communication (3%). We can help you with all of these points.