ACAMS Today, Jun-Aug 2023 | Page 29

Graphic 3 : Percentage of organizations using remote workers

Managing the risk of data loss or theft in a remote work environment is not a lost cause , but it is important to understand and , where possible , quantify the risks associated with this kind of function .

Establishing clear policies and procedures , employee training and using access controls such as company-issued devices and VPN access will help to reduce your risk of data loss and theft , even if all risks cannot be eliminated . The very existence of some of these controls — coupled with clear communication — can serve to dissuade remote employees effectively from engaging in many of the more egregious security violations .

Company culture will also play a profound role in the future of remote work , as employees who are more loyal to the organization and who understand that remote work may be a privilege rather than a right are less likely to overstep boundaries in regard to security expectations than employees who are miserable with their job or position and have no loyalty to the firm .

Conclusion

As is typical with any emerging technology or trend , there will not necessarily be a “ perfect ” answer immediately . Mitigating a risk as complex as what has been discussed will likely require a “ multipronged ” approach and require ongoing evolution as technologies , culture and employee expectations continue to change and evolve .

In the meantime , while we wait for a perfect solution to come along , we can at least acknowledge the risks associated with remote work , implement the best controls we have available to us and decide for ourselves what level of risk is acceptable .

Ronald Bohn , director of Model Validation Services , Verittas Risk Advisors , New York , NY , USA , ron . bohn @ verittas . com

1

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2

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“ Report : Cost of a data breach 2022 ,” IBM , https :// www . ibm . com / reports / data-breach

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“ What Is a VPN Tunnel ?” Website Rating , https :// www . websiterating . com / vpn / glossary / what-is-vpn-tunnel /

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“ 20 percent of organizations experienced breach due to remote worker , Labs report reveals ,” Malwarebytes Labs , August 20 , 2020 , https :// www . malwarebytes . com / blog / news / 2020 / 08 / 20-percent-oforganizations-experienced-breach-due-toremote-worker-labs-report-reveals

7

Pete Nicoletti , “ Remote work security statistics in 2022 ,” Cybertalk . org , March 31 , 2022 , https :// www . cybertalk . org / 2022 / 03 / 31 / remotework-security-statistics-in-2022 /

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