Mitigate threats with a remote workforce risk assessment

When adapting or creating a risk assessment for remote workers, internal and external risks must be identified and addressed in three areas:

1. data center;
2. network resources connecting remote employees; and
3. remote worker’s location.

Data center assessments examine internal and external risks, threats and vulnerabilities in the data center and infrastructure of a company. Assessing risks, threats and vulnerabilities at data centers should be performed regularly based on the size and complexity of the company. Larger and more densely populated data centers should be assessed more frequently, perhaps quarterly or even monthly. These assessments may be affected Results of these assessments can be used to fine-tune system administration, incident response, backup and recovery, data protection and management, disaster recovery, physical and local access security, and environmental management activities.

Network risk assessments can also be affected The internet is the network service used most frequently Remote worker assessments are the final leg of the process. The risk factors an enterprise assesses can be tweaked to more accurately reflect a remote workforce risk assessment strategy. Employees working at home or at an alternate office location must be diligent in managing and maintaining their systems and remote access resources. This can be done in partnership with IT staff and help desk teams assigned to manage remote communications activities. Employees working remotely can face external risks that go beyond technology issues — among them, dealing with young children and other family members, as well as tending to health issues and mental wellness. Many of these issues have emerged from the pandemic and challenge employees and organizations alike.