Out of the office and out in the field does not mean out of harm’s way.
More and more companies are seeing that their most remote frontline workers are the ones most vulnerable to hackers. Just because someone is working out in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t mean they pose no cyber security risks. In fact, they could easily be the company’s biggest threat, here’s why.
Focusing on Connecting Instead of Protecting
The people in remote areas often work from laptops that look absolutely bulletproof. However, they’re far from hack-proof. Of course, these high performance rugged computers can be customized and any company software or security measures can be added on.
However, things like downloading updates/ patches or communicating security breaches can be hard with employees that may only see connectivity once a day, or even every few days.
The company needs to take extra care to build policies and procedures to protect these employees and their hardware. If you only have access to your email once a day, the company’s IT department needs to put ‘high priority’ in the subject line.
Using Public Wi-Fi
The dangers of public Wi-Fi are incredibly well-documented.
However, a lot of workers in remote areas have to wait until they get back to civilization to connect their phones and computers in hotels, restaurants, or coffee shops. They’re also very likely doing so without their company advising them to use any special protection or VPN.
They’re often just so thrilled to be back in a good coverage area with fast speeds that they can’t wait to hop back online.
This makes them a massive security risk to their company’s entire network.
Making the Work Computer the ‘Everything’ Computer
Most of these employees also don’t have the luxury of having a work computer and a personal computer. The same can be said for their phones and tablets.
This means that they’re most likely doing things like shopping online from their work computer, which adds an exponential amount of risk.
As a whole, about 50% of surveyed people admit to shopping online from their work computers. One has to assume this number is considerably higher for workers in remote areas who will only have one device for weeks, or months, at a time.
A Lack of Mobile Understanding
The more tech-savvy Millennial-aged people of the world are staying away from these remote and high-risk jobs. This means that the workforce in today’s mines, forests, and ships is still made up of a huge percentage of older employees.
The older generation didn’t grow up using phones, tablets, or laptops. They are less tech-savvy and far less familiar with the ins-and-outs of protecting yourself online and protecting your network. And there may be nobody on site who can guide them or troubleshoot when they have an issue.
These older employees are also more likely to expose themselves to hackers by using public Wi-Fi in a hotel or restaurant. They are also more likely to use the same device for both personal and business use. Of course, they’re also more likely to do something ill-advised during their personal browsing or while they’re shopping online.
At that point, it’s very easy for an entire crew to be infected with a problem before they have any idea what has happened.
Remote worksites are often dangerous enough, with heavy equipment and high altitudes. Those are the dangers that demand a worker’s attention, which means the online threats are often missed.
Even though these employees are isolated from society, they’re not insulated from online risks.