Recently CPO Magazine published an article I wrote entitled “Engaging Remote Workers to Defend Information and Systems With Gamification”. In that article, I laid out the events that have led to the risky situation in which many businesses find themselves. Here are the main reasons why employees are facing a “perfect storm” of risk when working remotely.

• Businesses have not had time to update corporate policies and procedures, and train people on new ones, or on compensating controls they should use during the pandemic
• It is significantly more difficult for anyone to verify co-workers’ locations or statuses when staff are no longer working in the office
• There is a multitude of new and unusual “themes” related to the pandemic or “working from home” that can be used as believable “pretexts” (scam scenarios) to convince employees of the need for them to take some unusual action, such as making a special payment, buying gift cards, etc.
• Employees are in a much different mindset when working from home, often more eager for news about the pandemic or related business issues, and likely more stressed, bored and isolated.

The CPO article also explains why this situation requires a brand new approach to security awareness. Please have a read by clicking HERE, and feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss how gamified learning can help your organization address cyber security risks facing remote workers.

image: courtesy @brianisalive – unsplash.com