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The rising number of Coronavirus cases has contributed to the high number of employees working from home. According to a survey conducted in March by the CNBC technology executive council, 85% of organizations have half of their workforces operating from home.

Additionally, 25% of organizations are running remotely. This is a cause for concern for cybersecurity experts. 36% of those who participated in CNBC’s survey reported a rise in cyber threats since the shift to remote work. It's for this reason that organizations should create cybersecurity regulations for working from home. Here are some of the regulations that organizations should adopt for employees working from home.

1. CIA Model

All cybersecurity regulations need to be based on the CIA model. CIA stands for confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality means that information shouldn't be accessed by unauthorized personnel. This can be achieved by enabling the encryption of data.

Integrity means that data and systems cannot be modified by unauthorized personnel. This entails ensuring data has integrity and hasn't been changed from the time you created it to the time it reaches its intended party.

Finally, availability means that all authorized personnel can acquire the information they need, and all hardware and software is well maintained and regularly updated. The three principles of the CIA model are crucial in setting up security controls that protect your organization.

2. Updating Network Security

One of the essential regulations to observe while working from home is to ensure your network security is up to date. Updating your devices with recent security patches will create a strong defense against emerging threats. You need to ensure your antivirus program, operating system, and routers are protected since they're your main defense against cyber-attacks.

3. Avoid Phishing Emails

According to a recent study conducted in Italy, phishing attacks rose by 40% as the COVID-19 virus cases continued to increase. A similar report by ESET, a cybersecurity company, showed that it took seven hours to detect 2,500 infections from emails based on coronavirus themes.

One important regulation that should be adopted by those working from home is to avoid phishing emails. Many scammers are using the coronavirus crisis to launch attacks. The hackers use phishing emails that look like business offers or an important message from your superiors. In every instance, there's a link you must click for more information. You should not click on links unless you know who sent them. These links lead to a download file that installs malware on your system.

You should watch out for odd email addresses, generic greetings, poor grammar, and messages that don't match with the person's personality sending the email. Make sure you don't divulge any sensitive information.

4. Multi-Factor Authentication

Another part of crypto hygiene that should be adopted by people working from home is using multi-factor authentication. Passwords can be easily broken. Some programs can crack passwords in a matter of minutes.

While it's important to adopt good password etiquette, you should also enable two-factor authentication. This is a layer of protection that requires you to take additional action before entering a password. This authentication process makes it more challenging for cybercriminals to log in to your system.

5. Reinforce Confidentiality

If you're working from home with a family computer, it isn't easy to maintain data security. This is because other people accessing the computer may come across your sensitive data. For example, if someone accesses a shady website or clicks on a link that has a malware-laden file, your sensitive information will be at risk.

It's important for employees working from home to maintain the same degree of professionalism they observed at the office when it comes tosecuring sensitive data. This includes not using their personal email for official business.

Furthermore, the family computer should have a separate user account for business matters to ensure other people don't accidentally come across sensitive information. Additionally, physical documents at home should be disposed of discretely with a shredder.

6. Update Emergency Contacts

Organizations need to have alternative ways of reaching their employees during emergencies. For example, if there's a power outage or cyber-attack, you need to have another way to reach employees other than the ordinary means.

Therefore, another aspect of creating cybersecurity regulations is ensuring you update emergency contacts. It may involve compiling an alternative phone list or identifying a secure way of messaging top security personnel while avoiding digital intrusion.

In Conclusion

The threat of the COVID-19 virus isn't going away anytime soon. It's highly likely that many companies will continue working remotely for a long while. Working from home will become the new norm. Therefore, people need to adopt crypto hygiene while working from home. This includes using a trusted VPN, updated protection software, encryption tools, secure Wi-Fi connections, and being wary of suspicious emails.

Cybercriminals are keen on making a fortune from this crisis. Organizations need to be on high alert and create strict cybersecurity regulations for their employees working from home.