Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • Security
  • /
  • SA employers likely to retain hybrid models post-COVID

SA employers likely to retain hybrid models post-COVID

By Tracy Burrows, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 30 Jun 2021
Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy & evangelist, KnowBe4 Africa
Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy & evangelist, KnowBe4 Africa

A new survey carried out by KnowBe4 and ITWeb has found that the majority of employers are likely to continue with remote and hybrid working models, even if the risk of Covid-19 has abated.

The survey sought to uncover whether remote work and hybrid work were a future reality for South African organisations – and whether traditional approaches to cyber security were enough to protect organisations in a changed environment. It found that work models have changed dramatically, and that new security risks are targeting home based and remote workforces.

Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy & evangelist for KnowBe4 Africa, says the survey results indicate that the pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in how people work, and the types of cyber security risks they and their organisations now face as a result.

“The attack surface is now so much bigger, with remote workers now out of the relatively secure ‘bubbles’ of their office environments,” Collard says. “In addition, the prevailing anxiety and the distractions of working at home has made people less attentive and cautious when it comes to risks like phishing.”

"The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in how people work, and the types of cyber security risks they and their organisations now face as a result."

Anna Collard, KnowBe4 Africa.

Collard notes that many home networks are not secure, citing recent research by Charl van der Walt, head of Security Research at Orange Cyberdefense, which revealed the underestimated risks of home routers and VPNs. 

Collard says: “It is ironic that VPNs were rolled out to improve security, but that VPN gateways are now coming under attack.”

Traditional approaches to security will not be enough to protect organisations in future, Collard says. Both she and van der Walt note that new ways of thinking and a more holistic approach to security will be needed to protect companies in the new, hybrid working model.

KnowBe4, in partnership with ITWeb, hosted a webinar on 30 June on workplace security post-2020, where the findings of the South African remote working survey were presented. Orange Cyberdefense,an der Walt outline vulnerabilities of home offices and VPNs, and discuss with Anna Collard on how organisations should mitigate risk in future. 

For more information and to register for this event, go to  https://www.itweb.co.za/webinar/KnowBe4-Remote-Workforce/


Share