Teleworking creates a gap in the security practices of businesses around the world. A new study shows that companies today have not installed security solutions that will guarantee remote workers the best possible connectivity and security.

Organizations have not installed security solutions that ensure the best possible connectivity and security. "As the threat landscape evolves and cyberattacks become more and more sophisticated, many organizations surprisingly have not implemented security solutions that ensure the best possible connectivity and security for remotely working employees," a survey by Check Point Software finds.

Teleworking: five critical solutions

According to the company, there are five critical security solutions, needed to protect remote users from Internet-based attacks. These include:

• URL filtering
• URL reputation
• hibernation and reconstruction of content
• Zero phishing
• credential protection

However, only 9% of the organizations, which participated in the survey, It uses all five protections. 11% do not use any of the listed methods to secure remote access to enterprise applications.

The research identifies some significant security gaps in remote access. For example, 70% of organizations allow access to enterprise applications from personal devices. Only 5% of respondents reported using all recommended remote access security methods.

Meanwhile, 20% of respondents answered that they do not use any of the five methods to protect remote users while browsing the Internet.

Lack of protection

The research identified a lack of ransomware protection among businesses. 26% of respondents don't have an endpoint solution that can automatically detect and stop ransomware attacks.

31% don't use any of the reported methods to prevent sensitive business data from leaking out of the organization.

The security of email and mobile phones is another security gap. Today, only 12% of organizations that enable enterprise access from mobile devices use a solution to defend against mobile threats. This highlights how exposed organizations are to rapidly evolving 5th generation cyberattacks targeting teleworkers.

Overall in 2021, researchers saw 50% more attacks per week on corporate networks. "As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and take advantage of the remote work environment, businesses need a unified cybersecurity solution. This will strengthen their defenses and improve their agility against attacks," says Check Point.

The research

The survey was conducted among 1,200 IT security professionals worldwide. It examines how the shift to teleworking has changed organizations' safety practices for:

• the users
• devices
• access