If your business allows telecommuting, you need to take special precautions to protect your business from cyber threats. These six tips highlight what companies with remote workers should consider when determining if their cybersecurity strategy is up to par.

Deploy a Next-Generation Firewall

When you have employees working remotely, deploy a best-in-class firewall on their devices. Traditional anti-virus solutions miss an average of 60% of cyber-attacks, so having a next-generation firewall helps significantly with fighting cybersecurity threats.  While a traditional firewall typically provides inspection of incoming and outgoing network traffic, a next-generation firewall includes additional features like application awareness and control, cloud-delivered threat intelligence and integrated intrusion prevention. By itself, however, NGFW is not enough in today’s landscape. You should also augment NGFW capabilities with a dedicated VPN.

Set Up a Virtual Private Network

A virtual private network (VPN) is a critical feature that all of your remote employees should use. VPNs use encrypted connections to sensitive internal resources through the internet, which allows your employees to securely access your company’s intranet remotely.

With your managed firewall services, you may opt for a VPN with two-factor authentication. This provides an added layer of security by performing a second round of identity verification to ensure that the individual attempting to gain access is indeed your employee.

Implement Endpoint Management and Security

One of the biggest challenges for IT teams supporting remote workers is ensuring all the company endpoints (e.g., computers and laptops) are secure. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can quickly help you secure and manage endpoints with oversight 24/7 (because cyber attackers don’t work 9 to 5). Part of TPx’s Endpoint offering is Managed Detection and Response as well as Security Awareness Training, but customers can build their “package” based on their unique needs and strategy.

Fight cyber threats more effectively with Managed Detection and Response

One of the most effective ways to alleviate cybersecurity risks at the remote level is to monitor and avoid them. Managed detection and response (MDR) helps you discover and prevent more cyber threats, faster. MDR is a hybrid service that uses a 24/7/365 monitoring service design that combines technology with human analysis. This means that if a threat is flagged as a potential danger, cybersecurity experts verify if it is a real threat or just a false alarm — ultimately saving you time and money.

Arm Employees With Knowledge via Security Awareness Training

Phishing is the number one attack-method used by cybercriminals. The right Security Awareness Training program can reduce phishing email click rates by 75%. Good training helps your employees understand how fraudsters design phishing scams and other techniques to try to gain access to company data. Some security awareness training courses, including the one we offer at TPx, include automated reporting, which can give you deeper insights into strengths and opportunities within your company.

Use SD-WAN to Protect Telecommuters

Remote users need to have secure access to the corporate network to utilize applications for day-to-day work.​ It’s good to choose an SD-WAN solutions with security in mind. TPx offers SD-WAN that delivers a secure access service edge platform that combines industry-leading SD-WAN with comprehensive security services embracing the cloud and SaaS – to empower a productive remote workforce.

Now that you have reviewed these six tips, you can evaluate your IT infrastructure to determine how well it stands to protect remote employees from cybersecurity threats.