Cybersecurity for Remote & Hybrid Team

Cybersecurity for Remote & Hybrid Team

In 2025, a lot of people work from home, they are called remote or hybrid workers. People are been employed all over to work to work in a particular organisation that could be close to their living residence, far or could be from another country. This has helped reduce the high rate of unemployments and has given people with the right skills and ideas connect with big organisations to share their point of view and help scale the business from the comfort of their home. Due to high cost of transportation in some countries this has helped remote and hybrid workers save money which could have been spent on commuting themselves to work daily. Remote work involves working completely from home while hybrid work involves working from home and working from a precessional office settings, which means hybrid workers commute to work a few days in a week and work remotely for the rest of the week.

As a remote worker you get to work at your own pace and deliver an efficient result to the organisation. Unfortunately cyber criminals are the biggest threats to everyone literally, they target high profile individuals, CEO’s, employees, white, black and lots more. They are ready to do anything just for their malicious intents to work out. Due to this businesses and industries are been cautious of who they hire, where the employees resides, their device, systems, network and more. Everyone is living on the edge been cautious and careful, putting protective measures to protect themselves from cyber threat, no one is letting their guard down which is understandable. Cyber threats has caused more damage and still causing more damage. Remote workers are not trusted anymore, due to this they lose their jobs or act as a watch dog to their systems, devices, or networks. If a remote worker falls victim to cyber threat which results to loss of financial resources, this could put the employee at higher risk. They might serve jail term if the reason is not justified enough. This is why we need to learn and keep updates of the new trends or schemers this scammers are deploying. They are not sending quack and suspicious emails or messages anymore, they use generative AI to draft persuasive and compelling mails that would not raise any suspicion. Cyber criminals go as far as cloning and impersonating people voice, mimic videos and make it look real, but it’s deep fake.

Hybrid work model; How it works

Remote work involves working completely from home while hybrid work involves working from home and working from a precessional office settings, which means hybrid workers commute to work a few days in a week and work remotely for the rest of the week. These are some hybrid work model to consider for your work space this includes:

Week by week work model: If you decide to choose the week by week work model make sure you assign a different team who will come into the office when the other teams work from home this helps manage your office space which might not be big enough to accommodate all employees at the same time and also increase efficiency as well. The disadvantages in week by week work model is lack of flexibility which may cause problems. This model can be implemented gradually to avoid challenges and it might work well for bigger companies

Office first hybrid work model: The office first hybrid model allows employees to make a decision on their working technique, whether the employee choose to work from home or work in the office space. This work model requires employees to be more present in the work space rather than working from home, If your company efficiency and productivity relies heavily on joint collaboration the office first hybrid work model would work perfectly for you company. The office first hybrid model enables efficiency, flexibility and productivity it also encourage joint collaboration but may not be the most effective and efficient for some companies.

Split week hybrid model: This model encourage flexibility as it assigns specific days for remote workers and specific dates for office or on-site workers. One team can work out of the office space during the first part of the week while the other teams work remotely, they get to work from home and also execute task efficiently and efficiently. The split week hybrid model helps businesses with small space utilize the limited space and also deliver the same quality in a professional office settings. This model ensure your company is not over crowded which could lead to congestion and each team get to work collaboratively every week. The split week hybrid model could cost more as more workers would be required which increase onsite expenses.

Remote first or self will hybrid work model: The remote first or self will hybrid work model supports employees to work from home remotely, if the employee decides to work onsite, the office workspace is available for the employee to work. This give employees a choice, they get to choose which one works best for them according to their preference. The remote forst or self will hybrid work model promotes, efficiency, collaboration, flexibility and effective results. This also increase productivity and cater to all the employees. The disadvantages of the remote first or self will hybrid work model is it can be unpredictable and lead to overcrowding or underutilized space. Top Cyber Security Challenges For Remote And Hybrid Workers.

Unsecured networks at home and public space: Remote employees mostly rely on their home wifi or router, the wifi or router can have a weak password, outdated software, or a default setting that makes it easy for hackers to access important informations through the wifi. Unlike wifi used in a professional business setting which is secured with softwares like fire wall and monitoring tools use to track high traffic which is meant to disrupt network. The wifi in an office space has a proper security configuration with strong passwords that is hard to hack and detect by cyber criminals. Remote employees may rely on public wifi to work. They could use a close friend wifi, coffee shop wifi, hotel wifi and more, this is very risky because it can allow cyber criminals to intercept data through man in the middle attack. To avoid this risk business owners should enforce remote workers and hybrid teams to put prevention measures in place to avoid this attacks. Preventive measures such as Encouraging remote and hybrid workers to use VPN virtual private network to stop internet traffic WiFi and router passwords should strong and hard to crack, which will secure the wifi settings Enforcing strict policies that restrict employees from accessing important and sensitive information to the business with public wifi.

Protect data and sensitive information in remote work settings: Remote workers should be enforced to treat important business documents with care, in work settings, workers are allowed to access files, download, share and store the files across multiple device or location. Any file meant for the business should not be stored on the employees phone or transferred to another device which is not used for execution of business tasks. Weak data management such as sharing business files via unsecured platforms can lead to data breaches. The data could leak and get in the hands of an unauthorised source.

Secured communications for remote and hybrid team: Remote and hybrid workers use mails, messaging app, face time for video calls or other apps like zoom, WhatsApp and more. If the platform been used lack end to end encryption, cybercriminal can attack and they become a point for entry for hackers to have acesss to informations and sensitive conversations. If the app been used is outdated or the software is not secured this is a bigger risks, it makes it easy for unauthorised access to get sensitive informations. For secure communication the following protective measures should be put in place:

Softwares or app used for day to day communication must be secured. Messaging and video meeting app should use end to end encryption Enforcement of strict policies regarding the apps and software’s been used daily for work related communication or execution of tasks Software’s should be updated regularly and security patches should be addressed to avoid vulnerabilities.

Protecting sensitive information in remote and hybrid work settings: Remote and hybrid workers have access to some sensitive information, to access this files they need to download the file into a device or computer. This file is also shared, and stored on a particular device. Apps and devices used for downloading, storing and sharing informations should be secured and have high security. Sharing files to different location increase the risk of data leaks and access by an unauthorised user, this could lead to serious security breaches. Preventive measures to enforce are: Strong passwords that cannot be easily cracked should be used. Unique passwords and passkeys is highly recommended. Apps that are used for daily work related storage or file sharing platforms must have end to end encryption to ensure secure data Limited access: Not all employees should have access to all files and informations relating to the business. Limit file access based on the staff responsibility. A virtual assistant should not have access to the financial records of the company.

Phishing and social engineering attacks: Phishing and social engineering attack is one of the most popular threats affecting remote and hybrid workers. Cyber criminals utilise emails, messaging app or softwares used for day to day work related communications to trick employees to spill work related sensitive information. Cyber criminals also send malicious link and corrupted files to devices and computers, a single click on this link or file could disrupt an entire network. Preventive measures to be enforced are:

Cyber security training should be treated with high importance, employees should be educated and well informed of the schemes and tactics cyber criminals use. Cyber security training should not be a boring long one hour video, it should be practical instead of theoretical.

Ensure multiple factor authentication on devices and sofwares. Strong and unique passwords, face recognition, biometrics, voice recognition, unique code sent to devices for verification and more should be enforced.

Use advanced email filtering and anti phishing tools to block suspicious emails before they get their way through the inbox.

Secured devices: Employees in remote work settings use personal device and work recommended devices to carry out day to day work related tasks. Endpoint security is a growing concern, devices or computers that are not secured are vulnerable to malicious wares, ransomwares, unauthorised access, virus, corrupted links or files. Especially if anti virus software is not installed on the computer or device and it lacks security patches. Lost or stolen devices can increase risk and loss of important informations relating to the company. Preventive measures to enforce are:

Employees should install softwares like anti virus or firewalls to protect the devices from malware’s Device used for work related task should be encrypted to protect sensitive information from unauthorised users Lost or stolen devices should have remote wipe capabilities to ensure important informations are wiped from lost or stolen devices.

Conclusion Cyber security for remote and hybrid workers is no longer optional it is highly essential to incorporate safety measures to protect your company from cyber threats, by implementing end point security management, using strong and unique passwords securing access to the companies network, utilising generative AI to your advantage, training and educating employees about cyber threats and preventive measures, ensure end to end encrypted softwares, apps and devices are used and lots more. conducting risk accessment regularly with this you will get to protect your business from cyber threats. Hackers don’t send quack and suspicious emails anymore they are using technology to their greatest advantage, this is why business owners and employees should stay updated and read articles about cyber threats that will educate and teach them the schemes and tricks cyber criminals used to attack their target. Be one step ahead of cyber threats today, don’t wait for the next cyber attack before you take action.