Hacking isn’t something that only Governments and Enterprise businesses have to worry about – SMB business is a favourite target. Knights of Old – a transport firm based in Kettering is a great (sad) example. You can read their story here.
Monitoring and enforcing rules around password strength and complexity is something every business should do – and something about which they have complete control. Other variables rather less so. Once upon a time organisations could “dictate”:
- what device an employee used – a PC or laptop (mostly Windows based) that was procured, built and patched by their own IT department or service provider.
- where the device is connected to the corporate network – mostly the office.
No more.
Employers' authority over what devices employees use got diminished by a number of factors:
- The blurring of lines between work and home – the always on nature of many roles (parent/employee)
- The amount of time we spend on devices – people really want to be able to exercise personal choice about their “life partner”
- The challenge associated with recruiting and retaining great people – the flexibility to BYOD (bring your own device) has become an employment benefit
Employers’ ability to dictate where devices got demolished by Covid – at which point employers needed employees to work from home – an arrangement that has (for better or worse) become normalised since.
As a result, employees now access your network and business applications using a second hand Apple MAC that they purchased second hand off eBay, share with their family, use for their own private purposes and don’t maintain – over a Wi-Fi connection is secured by the default admin password.
Those responsible for IT security and business continuity – IT Managers, Finance Directors, and CFO’s - need to make a plan – they need to deal with the world as they find it – not as it was, or they wish it to be.
How Can TSG Help?
TSG serves over 1,200 mid-market businesses in the UK. We have friendly approachable people on staff – experts who really know their stuff. Tell us more about your employee base and IT infrastructure – we’ll tell you how to best secure it. To get in touch – please complete the form below.
