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// FEATURE //
Ed Williams , EMEA Director of SpiderLabs , Trustwave been unable to break the mould and truly lean into the business and employee benefits that are aligned with a work from anywhere environment . Of course , countless others are flourishing because of their doing so . By fully embracing the new remote work technology and methodologies adopted during the pandemic , these SMEs have been able to drive competitive advantage , unlock new business opportunities , decrease costs and dramatically increase revenue in what has become and will likely stay our new normal into the foreseeable future .
Ed Williams , EMEA Director of SpiderLabs , Trustwave
At the start of the pandemic , organisations were plunged into completely foreign territory where remote working was concerned . Almost overnight workforces became dispersed , forcing businesses to extend their digital systems beyond the existing perimeter and exposing their networks to more potential breaches .
Broadly speaking , SMEs made it through as best as they could . Without the budget and resources of larger enterprises to help with the relocation , SMEs could only do their best . I know from firsthand experience that some poor practices were observed , most notably with SMEs turning on RDP and then using laptops that had not been hardened . However , organisations had to react so quickly , that who can blame them ?
The issue is that remote working is here to stay and yet two years on SMEs suffer from the same issues as they did throughout the pandemic and before . It takes a business with a certain level of scale to be able to take information security ( people , process and technology ) seriously and consequently cybersecurity is rarely at the forefront of the mind of an SME . With inflation soaring , I suspect that their focus remains elsewhere .
Therefore , for an SME , cybersecurity only really becomes an issue when it is an issue – when hit by ransomware , for example . However , this needn ’ t be the case . Rather than conclude that they simply lack the resources and manpower necessary to implement and maintain the security processes that will ensure their cyber-resiliency is strong no matter where their workforce resides , SMEs must instead work smarter with how they implement their limited resources .
For example , instead of the sporadic investment in disparate pieces of expensive new tech , SMEs are far better off consistently ensuring that the cyberbasics are covered across their enterprise . These are patching , robust passwords , and a detailed security policy . Admittedly these aren ’ t the most exciting aspects of security but doing these cyberbasics well is the most effective way for an SME to tighten their security posture .
Regular vulnerability scans can confirm that these basics are being followed effectively across the whole of an SME ’ s environment . Exploiting vulnerabilities is a leading initial access vector for threat actors and ransomware-based attacks – an example being the recent Log4j vulnerability . The benefit of vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management to SMEs is therefore vast and SMEs must be aware of any vulnerabilities they may be exposed to and how to remediate and manage them also .
Sunil Ravi , Chief Security Architect at Versa Networks
The pandemic was a massive wake-up call for SMEs who were thrust into the remote working environment despite not necessarily having the proper infrastructure . Previously , employees ’ home networks were not part of an SME ’ s network , however , the sudden switch to remote working forced SMEs to extend their network without having time to fully assess and address the security risks .
Whilst every organisation , no matter what their size , experienced this situation , the
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