Fear and insecurity... What are the problems that remote workers face?

Remote work was a rare thing a decade ago, as working from home was available only in very special cases, and it was considered a temporary matter in almost all cases, but with the arrival of the Corona pandemic that affected the whole world, remote work became necessary, in order to continue The cycle of work only, but for the continuation of life itself.

Many believed in the year 2020 that remote work would be temporary, and would end with the end of the pandemic, but here we are in 2022 and remote work still exists, expanding and rooting day after day, as employers and workers themselves discovered the many benefits that everyone reaps from these way to work.

In fact, there are about 16% of business owners in the world who do not accept the appointment of any employee in the offices, and they want the work to be performed entirely remotely, and this approach is constantly expanding, as 32% of employers believe that employee productivity has increased since it began Their employees work from home, and in a study conducted by Owl Labs, it was estimated that 22% of the workforce in America (36.2 million Americans) will work entirely remotely in 2025, as reported by the “Apollo Technical” platform ( ApolloTechnical) in a recent report.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, goes further, seeing that 50% of employees at his company will work remotely by 2030. This vision is confirmed by 32% of remote employees saying that they will resign from their jobs if they They were forced to return to work from the offices, as mentioned in the previous report.

Yes, remote work was found to stay and expand, this is a fact now, however, despite the many benefits that remote work has achieved, it has brought with it many problems as well, and perhaps the most important of these problems was the problem of security and privacy.

worry and fear

A recent international study by the Cybersecurity Software Maker shows that remote workers have higher levels of concern about security and privacy than employees who work in their offices and corporate sites.

A survey conducted by F-Secure, which included 7,200 people from 9 different countries in the world, showed that 67% of remote workers expressed concern about security and privacy, compared to 58% of other employees, as stated by writer John B. Mello. The information technology specialist in a report published by TechNewsWorld recently.

Remote workers also feel more fatigue when trying to manage security across all their connected devices compared to others, and they have more fear of dealing with the Internet as well, 65% of remote employees said the Internet has become a dangerous place compared to only 48% of other employees , as Milo mentioned in his report.

loss of protection

"Remote employees lack the support provided by the company's information technology department, and they have to deal with security problems on their own, which constitutes a problem," said John Grohol, an American psychologist who specializes in online behavior. It is a source of concern and creates an additional burden on these employees, and the multiple and connected devices are another problem for them as well.”

"We've seen how insecure different connected devices can be in the home, where just one of those unsecured devices can compromise the safety and security of the entire home network."

“When employees work in their offices on their corporate headquarters, they are protected by their information security professionals,” explained John Bampnik, an information security specialist at Netenrich, a digital security and information technology operations company in California. They are always faced with any threat, which makes them feel safe unlike when they work from their homes where they lack the protection these people provide.. Remote workers have to deal not only with the feeling of being separated from the office, but also with the disconnection from the security provided by the company.”

Working remotely makes employees feel more exposed, there is a sense of safety when in a physical office (Shutterstock)

separation anxiety

Adam Javich, CEO of DoControl, a security services provider in New York City, emphasized that working remotely makes an employee feel more exposed. From that environment it only increases anxiety when it comes to security and privacy."

"It is normal for a person to feel more vulnerable as a result of physical separation and isolation from the rest of his colleagues at work," he added in statements to Tech News World, which the writer mentioned in his report.

In addition to feeling anxious about separation, remote workers suddenly find themselves burdened with additional security duties, which adds to the anxiety.

"This means that they are responsible for creating and managing a lot of new passwords, downloading the required programs and installing them with the correct settings, as the default settings for applications are often not the most private or secure," Javich explained.

These additional duties may contribute to security concern, but they can contribute to increased security awareness as well.

“You will likely be required to perform updates to your system and apps, which means you should read more about topics like this,” said Chris Hook, a consumer privacy expert at Pixel Privacy, a platform that specializes in information security and privacy protection. Security and privacy, and this will make employees working remotely more knowledgeable and aware than they were while working from the office.”

Isolation builds awareness

And the security concern for remote workers is increasing over time, as Chris Hook confirmed in his statements to Tech News World;

“Over time, the idea that working from home is temporary will fade, and once the individual realizes that this can be a long-term issue, the responsibility for the privacy and security of company data and assets will begin to assert itself in the employee.”

He added, "It may be easier for a person to feel separated from the rest of his colleagues for a short period of time, but over time the feeling of isolation will replace the feeling of being part of a team, and thus you will feel that there is more responsibility on your shoulders."

"It can be likened to a horror movie, when a group of people are together, they feel safe, but if they are alone they look around them in every direction whenever they hear a strange sound, because they no longer benefit from the safety advantage provided by the group," Hawke explained.

reduce anxiety

Writer John P. Mello asks: What can companies do to reduce anxiety among remote workers?

The answer comes from Jasmine Henry, director of field security at JupiterOne, a North Carolina-based cyber asset management company, “Security teams must work with HR leaders and people to scale up behavioral education initiatives. remote safekeeping and existing security controls to alleviate the anxiety of remote employees.”

"Corporate security teams must educate their employees remotely about existing controls developed for home work settings, including device management, prevention methods, and data loss prevention," she added.

And she added that security departments in institutions and companies "must also clearly and continuously educate the external security teams they work with about exactly what is expected of remote employees, to be responsible and follow acceptable and safe use policies."