Hybrid Working Increases Cybersecurity Risk

Employers should ensure teams know how to work safely

TRUMBULL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New hybrid working arrangements are placing firms at greater risk of cyberattack. Employers must be confident that staff understand how to stay safe while working from different locations, according to Questionmark, the online assessment provider.

US Cybercrime complaints increased 69% between 2019 and 2020¹. As employers move to adopt more formal hybrid working arrangements, which see employees splitting their time between the office and home, the risks could become even greater. However, by checking the cybersecurity knowledge of workers with staff assessments, employers can be confident that staff know what is expected of them.

Some 85% of breaches involve a human element.² Employers fear that hybrid working could lead to bad habits such as:

• Employees leaving their work laptop in the office and logging on from personal devices from home.
• Team members working from coffee shops or libraries, with vulnerable networks, during their working from home days. This was less of an issue at the height of the pandemic when such facilities were closed.
• Junior team members learning bad habits from senior co-workers such as emailing documents to a personal email address to “pick up at home.”

John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark, said: “Technical teams are leading the fight against cyberattacks by making data and systems more secure. But the behavior of workers is every bit as important to an organization’s security.

“By testing the cybersecurity knowledge of their workers, employers can ensure that team members understand what is expected of them, wherever they are working. The results will identify areas of vulnerability.”

The Questionmark Cybersecurity for Home-Based Workers assessment is a ready-made test that enables employers to measure the level of cybersecurity awareness across the workforce.

The new Questionmark Critical Cyber Diagnostic Test by CyberVista assesses worker skills across seven core areas and verifies their proficiency in cyber defense. It is aimed at cybersecurity specialists and other workers who manage sensitive data and systems as part of their job role.

https://www.questionmark.com/platform-services/cybersecurity-for-home-based-workers

https://www.questionmark.com/platform-services/questionmark-critical-cyber-diagnostic-test-by-cybervista

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Notes to editors

About Questionmark

Questionmark unlocks performance through reliable and secure online assessments.

Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organizations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements. Questionmark enables organizations to unlock their potential by delivering assessments which are valid, reliable, fair and defensible.

Questionmark offers secure powerful integration with other LMS, LRS and proctoring services making it easy to bring everything together in one place. Questionmark's cloud-based assessment management platform offers rapid deployment, scalability for high-volume test delivery, 24/7 support, and the peace-of-mind of secure, audited U.S., Australian and European-based data centers.

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¹ https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2020_IC3Report.pdf

² https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/05/17/breaches-high-human-element/