Earlier this year, an industry report stated that 79% of businesses remain concerned about the security risks of an increasingly remote workforce. Cyberattacks are on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because many organizations fail to put in place adequate cybersecurity measures and procedures. In addition, there is a worldwide shortage of cybersecurity professionals in every industry.
The pandemic changed the way people work, and many companies have been fast to adapt to this shift in work culture by encouraging and promoting remote and hybrid work. Zero Trust Network Access or ZTNA is gaining popularity as a secure alternative to corporate VPN-based access to the internal application and network services.
Remote work is the new reality for companies of all sizes and across every industry. As the majority of employees now perform their job functions outside the technology ecosystem of their local office, the cybersecurity landscape has evolved with the adoption of terms such as Zero Trust and Secure Services Edge (SSE).
The world has changed. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the number of teams that are working with a remote and distributed model. This change is a welcome acceleration of what many feel would have been the eventual outcome of our digital future. With this new model comes a new and changing set of security challenges.
The hybrid workplace is here to stay. If the past couple of years have proved anything, it’s that many workers enjoy working remotely, or like the flexibility of working from home part-time. Organizations also appreciate the benefits of a hybrid workplace; according to Gartner, 48% of employees will likely work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19, as opposed to the 30% of employees who did so before the pandemic.