Remote work security and compliance: getting it right in 2026

Since 2020, remote work has become common for millions of businesses, with organizations gradually adapting their operations to introduce new hybrid working models. Remote work offers many advantages, such as reduced rental costs of office space, improved work-life balance, and overall happier employees. 

However, it also presents unique problems, especially when it comes to security. Recent research has indicated that up to 92% of IT professionals believe remote work has increased the number of cybersecurity risks, with phishing attacks and unpatched personal devices being the most commonly reported incidents. As a result, businesses must contend with more stringent regulations surrounding remote work, with standards designed to help keep businesses and individuals safe and secure. 

In this article, we’ll look at what remote work security is and how it impacts businesses. We’ll also offer some solutions that can help you overcome common challenges. 

What is remote work security?

While remote work may offer employees more autonomy and work-life balance, it can present security risks for businesses. Distributed teams often work through different networks and unsecured devices, increasing their overall level of vulnerability to things like cyber attacks and phishing threats. This is where remote work security comes in.

Remote work security refers to the tools, practices, and policies companies use to ensure their data and their networks are secure while employees work remotely. The security of both hardware (such as work devices and hard drives) and software (such as networks and data) is a primary concern.

As remote work opportunities increase, so have new security standards associated with it. Think of them as two sides of the same coin. Security processes protect the employee’s hardware and data; security compliance helps prove to external parties that these protections are in place. Both approaches work in tandem to protect employees and businesses.

Why remote work security matters

In many ways, remote work security is more important than its in-office counterpart. Within an office environment, the systems and hardware are usually standardized, with IT support staff easily accessible if something goes wrong.

It’s not quite as simple when it comes to remote work. For employees who work remotely, accessing IT support can be more complicated. If appropriate security protocols aren’t in place, they also can expose the company’s systems and data to greater security risks. For instance, home networks and personal devices might not have the same safety protocols in place, increasing risk for both the employee and the company.

The consequences of this can be far-reaching. A breach from a remote or hybrid setup can result in downtime and damage to business operations. It can also do significant damage to the organization’s overall reputation if it impacts customers in any meaningful way.

Other concerns that make effective remote work security critical: 

• Protecting sensitive customer and business data
• Meeting legal and regulatory requirements
• Mitigating increased threats
• Addressing insider threats
• Supporting business continuity
• Maintaining and building trust across all stakeholders

Top remote work security challenges (and how to solve them)

As remote work has only recently been widely adopted, it isn’t a surprise that organizations still have to consider and overcome the challenges remote work presents. It’s vital that businesses tackle these concerns head-on with practical solutions to ensure they comply with relevant remote work regulations.

Here are some of the most common challenges that businesses face, as well as a brief overview of our recommended solution.

Let’s take a look at each of these in a little more detail.

Access control and data sharing

For years, organizations have turned to cloud-based programs for collaboration. While these programs can help your teams work together and exchange information, they can also lead to information oversharing. And now, with many, most, or all of your employees remotely logging into your systems, it can often be a challenge to keep track of who has access to what and when they access it.

Internally, employees might be using unauthorized tools to access company systems of record or using passwords that are easy for hackers to crack and use to steal sensitive data. And externally, your company could be inadvertently sharing too much information with other companies, partners, and vendors.

Solution

To start, businesses should deploy the “zero-trust” principle for all employees, regardless of whether they’re working on-site or remotely. This is the principle of assuming that every network or login attempt is hostile, so strict verification is applied for every access request. 

Some key strategies to deploy related to this verification include:

• MFA/2FA: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requires users to provide two or more forms of identification to gain access to a software or system. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a specific type of MFA, requiring two forms of identification. It will usually be a combination of something an employee knows (such as a password) and something they have (a hardware token, biometric data). 
• Access monitoring: This simply involves enhanced scrutiny of login attempts and behaviors for all users, with unusual actions and sequences being instantly flagged.
• Principle of least privilege: This involves granting each remote worker only the minimum level of access required to complete their role. While it can lead to data silos, it’s a great strategy to use when paired with effective team collaboration and communication.

File security and shadow IT

Tech-savvy employees working remotely might choose to use programs and applications that, while potentially being useful for their day-to-day activities, have not been approved or vetted by the company. This is what’s known as shadow IT, and it can lead to potentially compromising situations.

Additionally, employees may copy sensitive information onto localized servers and devices for convenience. This documentation may then be lacking in the appropriate encryption or backups, putting the company at risk.

Solution

Businesses should confirm their file security by creating and sharing a list of approved apps, and employees should be prohibited from using apps and programs that don’t appear on the list. To maintain effective collaboration, this list should be reviewed and updated regularly, with IT teams adding newly discovered applications if they’re found to be useful, safe, and secure.

Some additional strategies related to file security include:

• Regular audits: All approved programs should be regularly audited to ensure each is still a valid option.
• Cloud access security brokers (CASB): This type of solution acts as a mediator between employees and a cloud platform. They monitor cloud data visibility and can flag when anyone accesses a cloud application in an unapproved way. NetSkope and Microsoft Defender are two examples of CASBs.
• File security training: It might sound simple, but often the best solution is for your remote workforce to be fully briefed on what they can and can’t do with company documentation.

Systems and network scalability

Many businesses still use legacy systems that weren’t designed to facilitate a combination of traditional and remote environments. This often means businesses have to improvise with an array of solutions to keep everyone productive, which can get a little messy.

In addition, modern solutions such as VPNs have certain drawbacks. While they offer network protection, they don’t scale easily for large workforces. They can also create bottlenecks, and the decreased productivity can turn them into a potential problem instead of a solution.

Solution

Some companies are resistant to cloud migration, relying on their legacy systems or a hybrid infrastructure that struggles to keep up. Moving information to a cloud-based system can provide reliable network security and improve accessibility and scalability. It also makes collaboration easier for your employees, which means that they’re more likely to work together.

Cloud-based solutions are also compliant with various standards, including SOC 2 and ISO 27001. 

Other solutions for network scalability include:

• Identity- and device-based access: This replaces network perimeter security, which is more effective for office-based environments.
• Segmentation: Ultimately, your goal should be to create a single, standardized ecosystem in the cloud that can scale easily. However, during the transitional phase, you should roll out the implementation in segments to make it easier to monitor for issues. 

Endpoint protection for bring your own devices (BYOD)

Many remote employees will be tempted to use their personal devices for everything, regardless of whether it’s related to work. However, personal devices are often not equipped with industry-level protection or corporate controls, and they’re much more vulnerable to malware threats, particularly those that are being used on unsecured networks.

Employees also sometimes lose their personal devices, whether that’s by accident or a result of theft. This can put sensitive company information at risk if someone is able to access the device.

Solution

The most straightforward solution is to provide remote workers with work devices that have the necessary protections and security processes in place. These devices should be registered to the individual user, with endpoint detection and response (EDR) protocols being consistently applied to detect suspicious activity at endpoints.

There should also be a level of trust established and developed with this in mind. Employees should feel empowered to use their work devices without their own privacy being impacted. 

Compliance and governance in remote work

Remote work increases the risk factor across a number of business operations, particularly if there aren’t well-established control mechanisms and processes in place. There’s an increased risk of noncompliance when a manager isn’t present. Uncontrolled sharing and poor audit recording are other common issues.

That’s why international legal requirements and frameworks, such as GDPR and ISO, are equally as important for remote work as they are for traditional office environments. Having a single reference point across the entire workforce, regardless of whether they work remotely or not, is essential.

Solution

Businesses can use a whole range of trusted tools and software to prove their compliance across all relevant business operations. Data loss prevention (DLP) software is a common solution, as are automated reporting tools to provide evidence of an employee’s daily activity while they’re not in the office.

Many businesses have also turned to RecordPoint to assist with their data governance and compliance, particularly with companies widely adopting AI. We offer complete visibility on all data streams and avenues throughout the entirety of the data lifecycle, regardless of whether employees are accessing data at the office or from a remote location. 

Case study: How AIATSIS improved governance and compliance

The Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) wanted to enhance their digital records management across distributed teams and update their legacy systems. The nature of their work is the preservation of precious heritage and cultural artifacts from Australia’s First Peoples.

With RecordPoint’s assistance, they were able to centralize their data governance efforts into a single point of entry. We helped them build a future-proof, modern ecosystem with automated classification and reduced manual entry tasks for their remote workers. And all of it is designed to satisfy compliance standards across all leading frameworks.

With over 95% accuracy on data classification efforts and improved data trust across the board, AIATSIS is well on its way to safeguarding its work that generations to come will enjoy.

Emerging solutions in remote work security

While the safety and security of distributed teams have seen significant advancements over the last few years, there are still opportunities for improvement and development. Many businesses are likely to expand their remote work opportunities, so it’s important to establish the best possible practices.

Here are a couple of emerging tech solutions that we believe will play a vital role in all future remote working security processes.

AI-powered threat detection

Artificial intelligence (AI) governance will soon be at the forefront of every business operation, and remote work security is no different. It will help automate and streamline processes, speeding up productivity and reducing manual effort and errors. It will also help to detect sophisticated threats that might have the potential to do damage to the business’s infrastructure.

Secure cloud migration

Cloud security and migration are essential for developing a single source of truth and standardization across all business departments, which is particularly important for dispersed teams and workers.

It can help with continuous compliance, with control evidence and data lineage visibility available for auditing and monitoring purposes. It also makes it much easier to set up secure remote access management with in-depth reporting on authentication and access events.

How RecordPoint can help

Securing the safety of their remote workforces is a vital process that all businesses should master. And while the challenges and threats remain, so do the remote work solutions that are available for companies. With an established remote security network in place, business leaders can be confident that they will satisfy all necessary compliance and regulatory standards and reap the rewards.

For more than 15 years, RecordPoint has been helping organizations discover, govern, and control their data, wherever it lies. We help our customers by arming them with the necessary tools and knowledge to navigate this new, data-driven world. Take a tour or book a demo today to unify and migrate your data with confidence.

FAQs

Why is remote work security important?

Employees who work remotely still need access to company resources. However, the ways they access this data can create more risk and exposure to cyber threats. This is because they’re often using personal devices or an unsecured network. Remote work security ensures vital safety mechanisms are in place.

How can remote employees secure their home network?

There are several things a remote worker can do to help secure their own network. They should regularly update router firmware and avoid using default SSIDs. They should also ensure that they have WPA3 encryption set up. And they should use a VPN gateway whenever and wherever possible.

What’s the best way of handling company data remotely?

Your organization should have data classification and retention policies, and you should follow them carefully, as this is the standardized approach. You should always avoid sending sensitive files by email (use secure file-sharing tools instead), and you should always use approved cloud storage as opposed to local hard drives.

‍

*RDP Attacks Surged by 330% in The US Amid Pandemic, Atlas VPN, May 2020