Looking back on early 2020, one can be forgiven for believing that the call to stay home and work remotely was only going to last for a couple of weeks. As we inch towards the two-year mark since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that organisations of all sizes will continue to utilise a mix of hybrid, remote and in-person working environments.
Don’t dust off that access card just yet
According to Netskope’s Threat Labs report, a significantly large portion of the workforce, 70% to be exact, is still consistently working from home. What stood out even more is that only about 8% of surveyed respondents held a negative outlook on working from home.
This then means for most organisations there is not only public safety considerations at play but team sentiment to consider as well when evaluating when would be the right time to return to the office.
As such it comes as little surprise that 72% of organisations revealed that they have no concrete plans on what their work environment future looks like. By all intents and purposes, it appears Work From Home (WFH) and Work From Anywhere (WFA) has become normal.
What does this mean for data security?
Work from home is not only safer for your workforce’s health, it is largely their preferred state of operation. That is perhaps applicable to everyone but the IT team. This is because WFH and WFA continues to present organisations with new and complex sets of cybersecurity related challenges.
As highlighted in one of our earlier blogs from the year, the deployment of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is the next natural step in cloud based architecture. SASE ensures that protection is rendered wherever the data and users are, as opposed to only securing data in a central location. Fundamentally SASE architecture identifies users and devices whilst applying policy-based security controls and delivering secure access to the appropriate applications or data. SASE forms the foundation for the evolution of Zero trust network access.
Have you asked yourself the right questions?
It is important to accept that it’s ok to not have all the answers just yet. While progress has been made in the ongoing battle against the pandemic, there remains multiple variables and regular changes to the status quo.
There still however remains a need to ask yourself the right questions when assessing your organisational readiness to permanently adapt to the new normal. The Netskope Securely Work From Anywhere playbook offers a set of great questions as a starting point for the self-evaluation. These include:
· What is our approach to network transformation and what are our top 3 priorities in the next 12 months?
· What is our approach to security transformation and what are our top 3 priorities in the next 12 months?
· How are we addressing Shadow IT today, and what are the next moves we need to make to address the growing problem of unmanaged application use in our teams?
· Are we able to ensure security everywhere data is used and accessed?
· How ready are we for SASE today? What is missing?
Through these questions, organisations can begin to assess their preparedness and commence the journey to establishing a more resilient and agile security posture.
Netskope is a world leader in cloud security and has taken it upon themselves to redefine the global approach to cloud security. John Thompson, Chair of the Microsoft Board attributes the success of Netskope to their dedication to a vision. Netskope takes a data-centric approach to cloud security, following data everywhere it goes.
About DataGroutIT
DataGroupIT is Africa’s leading Value-Added Distributor (VAD). By partnering with the best selection of established and emerging technology vendors across the globe, we, provide complex solutions for any size business, including Enterprise and SME markets across the African continent.
Our product portfolio offers comprehensive solutions for IT Security, Infrastructure and Enterprise Software.
We are fully committed to our business partners. Channels & vendors success is our #1 mission. Our professional teams across Africa deliver exceptional sales, presale, logistic, marketing and financial support that create the ultimate platform to accelerate our business partners’ success.
Contact Us today to find out more.
