Introduction
Companies are now increasingly allowing some of their employees to work remotely. The emergency of covid 19 caused the rethinking of how work can be restructured to respond to organizational needs. This has necessitated many firms to develop IT infrastructure facilitating remote work (Korty et al., 2021). This working approach allows employees flexibility in creating work schedules that allow for a more balanced work with social activities, improving work productivity and job satisfaction. Working remotely for organizational employees needs an infrastructural framework that ensures network security is guaranteed since numerous devices are interconnected to the firm’s information system to share informational resources.
The need to enhance the organizational networking architecture is even more apparent in the wake of the firms increasingly embracing remote working model for their workers. Therefore, Business firms should focus on configuring wireless and physical networking devices for robust and secure networking. This is because firms encounter networking challenges that pose security issues (Rainer & Prince, 2020). The increasing need for firms to integrate remote working in their operations has shifted focus to the need for wireless and wired technology that is both robust and solid to guarantee efficient and secure information exchange.
The focus of SMBs should be on critical elements because such enterprises lack sufficient funds to procure a robust networking solution. The firms should prioritize network security and reliability to ensure that employees access organizational information resources when they need them through safe internet connections (Karygiannis & Owens, 2002). This can be accomplished by investing resources in reliable modems and routers, guaranteeing that the network is configured appropriately. Moreover, enterprises should procure a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution to encrypt data to improve network security against cyber-attacks. VPN ensures that information exchanged over the network is secure by hindering unauthorized access. Besides encryption, VPN performs endpoint system compliance scanning and multifactor authentication to ensure the privacy and integrity of the transmitted data over the network. This is more significant for organizations that have adopted policies on remote work.
The SMBs must ensure that the company employees can easily access emails, file-sharing tools, and customer relationship management applications to achieve their roles. The cloud-based platforms are essential in achieving this objective to ensure that files and other information resources are accessible from remote localities. The requisite security mechanisms should also be employed to ensure that firm resources are protected as a matter of priority (Kizza et al., 2013). Strategies to achieve enhanced data security posture include installing firewalls, employing user identification protocols, and implementing access control measures. In addition, the firms should introduce employee awareness and training programs to ensure that they understand the risk exposure faced by the firm and mitigation procedures to protect firm data points.
The SMBs should also focus their resources on necessary networking software and hardware to guarantee that firm workers access company information systems securely for remote work. Acquiring the VPN tool is vital in safeguarding the firm’s information systems against potential cyber security threats (Marin, 2005). Unauthorized individuals cannot access a VPN solution, a secure platform that guarantees data through encryption. This is a vital investment for SMBs engaging some of their teams in remote work (Antón et al., 2003). Some of the challenges the solution may encounter include weak user authentication procedures, man-in-the-middle attacks, tunneling, attacks on user devices, and malware.
Conclusion
Enterprises should procure a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution to encrypt data to improve network security against cyber-attacks for remote work. Moreover, SMBs should install firewalls, employ user identification protocols, and implement access control measures.
References
Antón, P. S., Anderson, R. H., Mesic, R., & Scheiern, M. (2003). Finding and Fixing Vulnerabilities in Information Systems: The Vulnerability Assessment and Mitigation Methodology (1st ed.). RAND Corporation. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mr1601darpa
Karygiannis, T., & Owens, L. (2002). Wireless Network Security:. US Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Pandey, S. (2011). Modern network security: Issues and challenges. International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 3(5), 4351-4357.
Marin, G. A. (2005). Network security basics. IEEE security & privacy, 3(6), 68-72.
Korty, A., Calarco, D., & Spencer, M. (2021). Balancing risk with virtual private networking during a pandemic. Business Horizons, 64(6), 757-761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.07.011
Rainer, R. K., & Prince, B. (2020) Introduction to information systems (8 th ed.) Wiley.
Kizza, J. M., Kizza, W., & Wheeler. (2013). Guide to computer network security (Vol. 8). Berlin: Springer.
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