A dynamic workforce is one that is not bound to a single way of doing things. Some people are full-time, others are part-time, and all of them have different working tendencies. In particular, the modern dynamic workforce is dealing with more remote workers than ever before. The ubiquitous nature of the internet has made it easier than ever before, and the recent Covid-19 pandemic pushed things even farther in this direction. Let’s talk about a few simple concepts that will be useful when managing a dynamic workforce.
Don’t Slack On Vetting Or Authentication
One thing you need to realize right away is this: All it takes is one employee to compromise an entire organization. If you look at reports of high-profile hacking incidents, you will see that most of them started with a single foolish act from a single foolish employee. This report from a respected cybersecurity company details five different types of employees that are likely to cause trouble. These are: The careless worker, the disgruntled worker, the malicious imposter, the negligent worker, and the double agent.
Because of the ever-present danger of infiltration, you need to make sure that your remote workforce is vetted with the same thoroughness that would normally be used. Make sure that you carry out the majority of these early interactions in person (or at least over a video conference app). That way, you can make sure that you are talking to the same person that applied for the job. Deepfake technology can be used to create some pretty convincing frauds, so don’t underestimate a dedicated attacker.
Establish Procedures For Testing And Accountability
Because we are focusing on security matters, let’s discuss another important aspect of that: Accountability. Many prominent articles on this subject will tell you to make sure that your employees are educated about proper security practices. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t thinking about the need for enforcement. Obviously, you can’t police a remote worker, but you can test them from time to time.
There are many ways that you can remotely view the actions of a computer that is connected to your network. Most of these are software solutions, and most of them aren’t particularly hard to use. Even an occasional security audit on a randomly-selected employee can have the desired effect. What is the desired effect, you ask? To let everyone know that there will be consequences for those who compromise security.
Concentrate On Access Control
When there are a lot of remote workers connected to your network, it becomes that much easier for an intruder to slip in with them. It also becomes easier for an intruder to impersonate a legitimate user, so you need to make sure that you and your IT team concentrate on the proper control of access.
Multi-factor authentication is a good place to start, but you might want to go a little farther. There are four basic models of access control, and you will need to choose one of them:
- MAC (Mandatory Access Control): When this model is used, only the owner of the system has control over access. User privileges can not be given out by anyone else, which can be highly secure.
- RBAC (Role-Based Access Control): When this model is used, each end-user will have access to only the information they need. A security worker will only have access to security data, and a customer service worker will only have access to customer-related information.
- DAC (Discretionary Access Control): This is the least secure option, as it allows end-users to control a wide variety of settings and options. For low-security situations, this is still a viable option.
- RB-RBAC (Rule-Based Access Control): This is a model that allows users to access the network freely, but with a different set of rules for each person. These rules are determined by their duties and capabilities.
Try To Foster A Sense Of Unity
When you are dealing with a dynamic workforce, there is always the danger that they will become isolated from one another, both physically and mentally. This is a bad thing for several reasons. For one thing, it contributes to an unpleasant and sterile work environment, but that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that a lack of unity leads to poor teamwork, and that’s never a good thing.
Even remote workers can usually be made to attend events from time to time. This could be as simple as a company outing to a nice nature park. If your workforce is too spread out for this to be a viable option, you should at least make sure that they use video conferencing software to keep everyone in close touch. There are numerous studies (like this one) that have affirmed the importance of good teamwork.
Never Stop Updating And Improving
Once you have a good working set of rules in place, you shouldn’t stop there. No matter how good things are going, there is always the chance that things could run even better. That’s why you should always look for ways to update and improve. From a security perspective, this is even more important. Unless you stay updated on the latest threats, you will not be well-protected against them. Cyber-threats are always changing and evolving, so don’t let them get ahead of you and your organization.
Conclusion
The dynamic workforce is the way of the future, and that seems to be pretty obvious. The widespread adoption of the cloud is sure to be one of the driving factors as this process moves forward. Cloud computing makes it easier than ever to network a diverse and widespread workforce together. At the same time, this model of management also opens up new risks and challenges. We hope that we have given you the information that you need in order to deal with these challenges. If that is not the case, and you feel that you need to know more, you can start by filling out the contact form.