Fortinet today unveiled the 2020 Remote Workforce Cybersecurity Report. The report included participants who are employed across 17 countries, representing nearly all industries and the public sector.
The report investigates the cybersecurity challenges that organizations faced as a result of the dramatic shift to telework early this year and the planned investments to secure remote work in 2020 and beyond.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly in the first half of 2020, many organizations were required to shift to telework practically overnight as teams around the globe were asked to stay home. Nearly two-thirds of the firms surveyed had to rapidly transition over half of their workforce to telework. In addition, most respondents said the rapid change presented a challenge to their organization, with 83% citing it as moderately, very, or extremely challenging. Only 3% were not at all challenged.
Highlights of the Report:
- As of June this year, a long-term shift to telework is anticipated, with nearly 30% of organizations expecting more than half of their employees to continue working remotely full time after the pandemic.
- Almost all organizations expect to invest more to secure telework long-term, with nearly 60% of enterprises spending more than $250,000 in secure telework investments in the next 24 months.
- Moving forward, the majority of enterprises surveyed intend to make unplanned upgrades to their existing systems to secure telework. Many also plan to add new technologies not previously in place.
- Only 40% of organizations had a business continuity plan in place prior to the pandemic. Yet, as a result of the pandemic and the rapid shift to remote work, 32% invested further in this area.
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Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC, at Fortinet, “The COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting effects on how organizations invest in cybersecurity. In fact, over 90% of enterprises plan to invest more to secure telework over the next two years. Given a dramatically expanded digital attack surface, the waves of cyberthreats targeting remote workers, and the ongoing cyber skills gap, organizations need to carefully consider what technologies and approaches are needed to secure their telework strategies long-term. They have an opportunity to maximize their investments with cybersecurity platforms designed to provide comprehensive visibility and protection across the entire digital infrastructure, including networked, application, multi-cloud, and mobile environments. This ongoing shift to remote work will also require more than just technology; cybersecurity training and awareness should also remain key priorities.”
