Organizations to continue remote work support but most aren't equipped to do so securely: Study

Currently, organizations are struggling to adjust to the new normal. 41% have not taken any steps to expand secure access for the remote workforce, and 50% are citing proper equipment as the biggest impediment to doing so. Consequently, 65% of organizations now enable personal devices to access managed applications, according to Bitglass’ 2020 Remote Work Report.

The report analyzes how organizations have adjusted to support remote workers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Bitglass partnered with a leading cybersecurity community and surveyed IT professionals to understand how prepared their businesses were for the sudden shift, what actions they are taking in cybersecurity, and what their top security concerns are now. 

When asked what their organizations are primarily concerned with securing while employees work remotely, 65% of respondents said securing network access. This was followed by securing access to SaaS apps like Slack (55%) and bringing your own device/personal devices (55%). When it comes to the most concerning threat vectors for remote work, respondents cited malware (72%) and unauthorized user access (59%). 

“This research indicates that many organizations are not implementing the security measures necessary to protect their data in the current business environment,” said Anurag Kahol, CTO of Bitglass. “For example, while respondents said that the pandemic has accelerated the migration of user workflows and applications to the cloud, most are not employing cloud security solutions like single sign-on (SSO), data loss prevention, zero trust network access, or cloud access security brokers. On top of that, 84% of organizations reported that they are likely to continue to support remote work capabilities even after stay at home orders are lifted. To do this safely, they must prioritize securing data in any app, any device, anywhere in the world.”

Key Findings Include:

• Malware is the most concerning threat vector, with 72% of respondents citing it as their top concern.
• From a remote work perspective, the application types that organizations are most concerned about securing include file sharing (68%), web applications (47%), and video conferencing (45%).
• At 77%, anti-malware is the most-used tool to secure remote work. However, this and other tools like single sign-on (45%), data loss prevention (18%), and user and entity behavior analytics (11%) are still not deployed widely enough. 
• 63% of respondents said that remote work was likely to impact their compliance with regulatory mandates; 50% named GDPR, specifically.