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With more and more UK employees beginning to work remotely from home as well as during traveling this can become a worrisome security gap for SME business owners if this remote business style is not implemented correctly into your business IT infrastructure.
While remote working offers flexibility and access to a boarder pool of talent, it also introduces new and serious security risks.
If you’re a UK business-owner, you need to ask yourself…
Are your remote workers making your business more vulnerable?
When employees are outside the traditional “office perimeter” and using home networks, personal devices or shared devices, their tends to be weaker and more lax in security.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s guidance on home working emphasises that remote networks can be exploited by cyber-criminals.
There are many extra risks that come with remote working.
Not specifically for Remote working but the UK data protection law (including the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance) means you must ensure data is secure even when employees work from home and that this is you as the business owners reasonability.
A breach or data loss doesn’t just cost your business money it can damage reputation, client trust, incur regulatory fines, and even jeopardise your business continuity.
So, as a business-owner in the UK, you can’t treat remote security as a “nice-to-have”.
It must be carefully included within your IT strategy if you have decided to take the route of remote working employees.
Keep reading for helpful tips on how you can make your business more cyber secure with the top key areas to address from a cybersecurity focused UK IT Support company.
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You need to ensure that any devices that’s used by your remote employees including, laptops, tablets, phones are properly configured, patched, encrypted and protected.
For example, the University of Cambridge’s security guidance emphasises every device needs:
Consider within your IT policy if you plan to offer company-issued devices or if your happy for employees to use personal devices (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD).
The BYOD initiative can introduce additional risk unless well-managed as you are unable to ensure the security procedures your business must adhere to will fall in line with your IT Policy and insurance policies correctly.
Lock devices when not in use, use strong passwords/biometrics and avoid saving work files locally on unprotected drives. This can be implemented through a secure companywide password policy.
Use strong, unique passwords as well as multi-factor authentication (MFA), this blocks many account-compromise attacks
Ensure your employees are using remote access (VPN, remote desktop) this should be configured during their onboarding and checked before you allow working from home as well as all access checks for company data with only authorised users/devices allowed.
Enforce a zero-trust incitive, which means your employees only have access to what they need. Include this within your IT policy review access rights whenever new employees join or staff leave. This is not due to untrustworthy employees but in actual fact giving them the confidence that they only have access to what they need.
An audit of access rights should be completed annually for compliance purposes.
IT is suggested that for employees working at home that you must ensure they have secure Wi-Fi you can do this by, changing default router credentials, enabling strong encryption and by keep router firmware up to date.
Public Wi-Fi should be avoided, or if used then within your IT usage Policy it should state that the use of a VPN is used and avoid accessing sensitive systems.
As a business specialising in IT support and cybersecurity for UK companies with remote teams, we offer you a free cybersecurity review to evaluate how well your remote-working security measures stack up.
Yes, remote working environments often use home networks and personal devices, which typically have weaker security controls than corporate offices.
It’s possible, but it requires strong security.
If employees use personal devices, you’ll need clear BYOD policies, mobile device management (MDM), segmentation of work vs personal use, and strong authentication.
For any employee accessing sensitive company systems or data, yes.
A VPN encrypts their connection and ensures that remote access is routed securely.
Many UK-based guidance documents recommend VPNs for remote access.
That’s why company-issued devices or managed devices are preferable.
If using personal or unmanaged devices, enforce automatic updates, regular compliance checks, and restrict access until compliance is confirmed.
Your IT Support provider should be able to do this as long as this device is on support
There’s usually no major cost to switch beyond setup or onboarding fees. In many cases, better providers save SMEs money through improved efficiency and proactive maintenance.
At least annually, but ideally more frequently for example, quarterly is preferred. Training should cover phishing, password hygiene, home network security, secure communication, and incident reporting.
You should have a policy in place for lost/stolen device incidents this policy should include steps for example, remote (to whom & contact info), wipe capability, device encryption, and the employee should report this immediately.
These types of policies help minimise data-loss risk and ensures you comply with data protection duties.
Absolutely.
Remote worker devices must be included in your backup/restore plan.
Local devices are more vulnerable to ransomware, theft, hardware failure or mis-deletion.
Regular, secure, offsite/cloud backups are essential.
Yes. As a UK business you need to comply with data protection law (UK GDPR), and follow guidance from the ICO about working from home securely.
Anne-Marie Blazdell is a Marketing & Communications Manager with expertise in digital marketing, content creation, and IT solutions. With a strong foundation in graphic design, she trained at Farnborough College of Technology and Southampton Solent University before advancing into marketing and business IT support.
Since joining Syn-Star in 2022, Anne-Marie has specialised in crafting SEO-optimised website content, managing social media, and helping businesses navigate the complexities of IT. Her work bridges the gap between technology and business, making IT more accessible and effective.
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