Several big and small companies have adopted Work From Home over the last few months, as India continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak. However, most of these companies are at risk, with employees having little information about how to securely work on personal laptops. Only one third of employees (34%) of small businesses have received instructions on how to securely work on personal laptops, tablets and smartphones while at home during the pandemic lockdown, global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has found. 

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The report further says that during the pandemic, three-in-five employees of small organizations (57%) were not provided with corporate devices from their employers, compared to an average of 45% of staff working in all companies. While it may be the only option for some organizations to keep their business going, only one third of small business staff (34%) indicated they were given any IT security requirements to work securely on personal devices.

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To ensure that company data is safe, even personal devices should have an anti-malware solution installed or provided by an organization, using strong and unique passwords on devices and WiFi routers, and regularly updating device operating systems in order to reduce risks from unpatched vulnerabilities.

Having such instructions in place has recently become even more necessary, given that 35% of small business employees admitted they have begun to store more valuable corporate information on their home devices, as well as in personal cloud storage services 25%.

“Small companies may be in difficult circumstances and their first priority is to save their business and employees during the lockdown. So it is no surprise that cybersecurity may become an afterthought. However, implementing even basic IT security requirements can decrease the chances of malware infection, compromised payments or lost business data. Moreover, there are plenty of recommendations already given by cybersecurity experts that businesses can share with their employees to help them keep their devices safe. And of course, the requirements should be followed not only during home isolation but continued when staff work remotely in the future,” comments Andrey Dankevich, Senior Product Marketing Manager, B2B Product Marketing at Kaspersky.