Mitigating Teleworking Risks

Across the globe, many Corporate Networks now extend into their workers' homes. The nature of these extended networks is changing rapidly and dramatically. The growing importance of information and information systems in doing business has created a need for access to information quickly and at all times of the day or night. And anyone might need that information - business end users are just as likely to need access as technical support staff. The introduction of the infrastructure to facilitate these new business needs has also opened the door to telecommuting. Uptake was relatively slow in the early years as companies and workers considered the viability of the concept and awaited the broadband access required to make it efficient. Now that broadband has reached the home (in the shape of digital subscriber line [DSL], in its various guises, and cable modems) teleworking is finally taking off, and in a big way. Teleworking affords benefits to both the employee and the employer: teleworking has clearly arrived and it looks set to be a permanent feature of the work environment. With the increased freedom afforded to employees by teleworking there also comes increased information risk. The risk may be considered in two layers - the risk at the remote PC and the risk at the corporate network.