The 4 pillars of digital workspace cybersecurity

Companies are investing billions of dollars in cybersecurity every year. According to IDC, worldwide spending on security solutions is forecasted to total USD $133.8 billion in 2022. It’s not exactly surprising, either. With the rise of the digital workspace, the traditional model of cybersecurity is falling under scrutiny. And if your organisation isn’t making its own moves to keep its data safe, you could be risking everything. In this blog, we’ll explore the fundamental digital workspace cybersecurity measures that your organisation needs to take to keep your information secure.

As IT environments evolve and become more flexible, the level of protection must develop in a corresponding way. While allowing staff to work from anywhere, and from any device, can improve productivity and the overall employee experience, it also poses new challenges for cybersecurity.

The importance of digital workspace cybersecurity

Establishing a digital workspace can transform the everyday experience of your employees, help you keep your top talent, make your organisation more efficient and even supercharge your company’s ability to innovate. Thanks to cloud computing, workloads are available at any time, on any device. And employees are increasingly trading in desktop machines and traditional software for portable devices and web apps to take advantage of this flexibility. The result? A happier, more engaged and efficient workforce.

However, as advancements in mobility are embraced by businesses, proportionate levels of risk are also introduced. Whether you run a program of official company hardware or a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policy, you face similar threats if your digital workspace cybersecurity isn’t watertight.

An employee who loses a device, shares a password, or clicks on a malicious link could leave your entire network vulnerable. As such, it’s important that your IT infrastructure and employees are kept secure, whether they’re based in the office or working remotely.

What can you do?

There are ways to protect your company’s data, even if it’s being accessed on the go from a multitude of devices. Let’s explore the four cybersecurity pillars that might just help your organisation avoid a costly lapse:

1. Multi-factor authentication
2. Conditional access
3. Information protection
4. Threat prevention

1. Multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security enhancement that requires multiple methods of authentication to verify a user’s identity for a login or access. Generally, it combines two or more independent credentials, which could include something you know, like a password, something you have, like a device such as your phone, or something that uses part of you, like your fingerprint or in the case of facial recognition, your face. The point is your credentials must come from separate categories to enhance security.

How it benefits your organisation

MFA creates a layered defence, making it harder for an unauthorised person to access your organisation’s apps, data or devices. This is very important for all external-facing systems or apps, and particularly beneficial for employees who regularly take their devices outside of the office environment and access the network remotely.

If, for instance, a user’s credentials are compromised because they used their corporate password on a compromised website—multi-factor authentication provides some protection, as an attacker would only have two of the three credentials needed to authenticate. As such, multi-factor authentication creates peace of mind for everyone in your organisation, not just your IT team.

2. Conditional access

As businesses move towards a more cloud-centric model, it’s increasingly difficult to control access to important documents and data. Traditionally, IT departments would simply need to keep content behind a corporate firewall and govern access to company-owned devices. Now, devices may be owned by the company, the user or a third party—which makes regulation more complex. Conditional access policies can address this issue, as they will proactively verify the trustworthiness of any device or individual looking to access information.

How it benefits your organisation

Conditional access ensures devices are compliant with your security policy, for example, conditional access can check for running antivirus software and block access from devices which have not been updated. And, if an approved user is on a device that’s not compliant with your security protocol, conditional access can guide them towards compliance or admittance. Conditional access policies can be configured and tailored for individual applications, users and groups, so this is a highly flexible approach to protecting your environment.

3. Information protection

With employees working in multiple locations, on numerous devices, with data from various sources, it can be tricky to properly protect data or sensitive information. It’s all too easy for accidental data leaks to occur through apps and services outside of a company’s control, like social media and the public cloud. But, by introducing information protection procedures, you can help your business to protect critical data, no matter where it resides.

Information protection helps to protect against data leaks without interfering with the employee experience. It also helps to protect enterprise data and apps against accidental leaks on enterprise-owned devices and personal devices that employees may bring to work.

How it benefits your organisation

Information protection helps businesses to classify and protect documents, emails and data. Additional technology, including encryption and rights management, can greatly improve the safety of sensitive information. By providing guidelines to users on processing, storage and transmission of sensitive information, your organisation can ensure that information is sufficiently safeguarded from both disclosure and modification.

4. Threat prevention

If an attacker breaks into your system, potentially holding you to ransom, remedying the situation can be very time-consuming and costly. Having threat detection software in place means that an organisation can proactively detect and prevent threats and protect users against them. Threat prevention must cover endpoints, email and collaboration, web, SaaS, and user identity.

How it benefits your organisation

Threat prevention involves blocking known malware and viruses, checking files as they are sent between devices, and protecting against attacks. It outlines trusted applications, scans for threats and ultimately protects access to devices, data and applications. By continually monitoring who is accessing what information, from where, and how, across which networks, IT can remain in control.

Choose freedom and security

At Deptive, we will work with you to understand your digital workspace needs, including a cybersecurity strategy to keep your data safe. Partnering with Deptive will provide your employees with the freedom to work anywhere, securely. We’ll show you how to maintain the highest possible levels of security, from web apps to mobile devices, with your staff, vendors and offshore partners.

To find out more about how to keep your digital workspace secure, get in contact with the team at Deptive today.