'Out of sight, out of mind' approach to remote users leaves
businesses at risk of virus attack
A survey from Sophos, a global leader in anti-virus protection
for businesses, has revealed that many companies are neglecting the
security of their remote workers' IT systems. The result of last
month's poll of 3,000 IT systems administrators found that
companies are diligent about updating their office-based anti-virus
software - 66% of firms are doing so on a daily basis. However, a
staggering 70% of companies are updating their remote workers'
anti-virus protection on just a weekly or less frequent basis.
Indeed, 45% of businesses polled are relying on monthly updates
alone to update their remote workforce's protection. This is in
spite of Sophos issuing protection for every virus considered to be
a threat, which could be several each day.
The Government's new flexible working legislation, enabling
eligible workers to apply for more flexible working hours, is
likely to increase the popularity of remote working. Sophos is
concerned that, by failing to update anti-virus protection for
remote users, companies are creating a critical hole in their
networks which will be exacerbated by an increased number of remote
users.
"Neglecting remote users' IT security is like having a bucket
with a hole in it," said Carole Theriault, anti-virus consultant,
Sophos Anti-Virus. "Businesses are largely aware of the importance
of applying anti-virus updates in-house, but this mindset hasn't
extended to incorporate off-site workers. Diligent IT
administrators are seriously compromising their security efforts by
not enforcing stricter security policies covering remote workers'
computers."
With a rise in the popularity of home working, computers are
often used for both work and leisure. Home workers using their
laptops or work PCs to download web content or share files over
peer-to-peer platforms further increase their vulnerability to
virus infection.
As viruses can spread far and wide in minutes, it is essential
that updates are as regular as possible. Updating remote workers'
anti-virus protection can be managed with administration tools
which monitor company computers outside the network and update as
required. Sophos's Remote
Update can be deployed to update remote computers with the
latest virus protection and upgrades of Sophos Anti-Virus
software.
Sophos's poll was completed by more than 3,000 systems
administrators at companies worldwide.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.