Does Remote Working Increase The Risk Of Cyber Attacks?

In today’s remote working era, more Houston businesses are asking the same question: Does remote working impact cybersecurity? With so many employees working from home across Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, and The Woodlands, companies face higher risks than before. Home networks are often less secure, personal devices aren’t always protected, and cybercriminals know remote setups offer easier entry points. As more people question whether they really need to work on-site, it’s important to understand how remote work affects cybersecurity and why local businesses must take these risks seriously. This guide breaks down what remote work means for your security and the most common issues companies in the Houston area are dealing with today.

Does Remote Working Impact Cybersecurity?

A remote working environment raises the risk of a cyber attack, as per the research of multiple security experts. According to a report, 60% of workers with critical information are remote, and around 18% will not return to the office. These changes have exposed new and challenging attack surfaces.

Another practice by remote workers is introducing unsanctioned technology that further expands the attack surface, thereby increasing the risk of a cyberattack. The threat it imposes is huge.

Since the gadget or device may go undetected by the IT department, it lacks the security scrutiny needed.

Remote work not only broadened the possible attack area but also extended it beyond the usual perimeter defenses, such as the firms’ firewalls and intrusion detection systems that resist ransomware assaults, data breaches, and other sorts of cybercrime.

Evaluation of New Vendors to Eliminate Security Gaps

The firms can take these measures to protect their critical information.

1. Constantly check the security position of the vendors you are working with. For the hundreds or even thousands of suppliers, visibility and control are necessary for a scalable solution. Industries should crosscheck that their solution can detect and respond to changes in the cyber situation.
2.  Keep track of all the suppliers’ relationships with the company, plus the types of data they access and handle. Certain suppliers, for example, may have more hands-on convenience to sensitive data, while others may have access to the production area to update software code.
3. Prioritize the importance of vendors. Certain suppliers are seen as more significant than others in terms of their commercial output, the technical relationship they have with the organization, or even regulatory considerations.
4. Increase your visibility and control over your extensions. This is possible by employing a system that intricately addresses suppliers, ideally by combining scanning the vendor’s attack service with the completion of security questionnaires.

What are The Human Errors In This Regard?

Remote work raises the chances of human error for every business, and Houston companies feel this more than most. When employees work from home in places like Katy, Sugar Land, or The Woodlands, they no longer have coworkers or IT support right in front of them. That distance creates communication gaps, slower responses, and mixed instructions. Cybercriminals take advantage of these gaps because even small mistakes in a remote setup can open the door to attacks.

As workflows shift every day, IT teams must constantly adjust. They juggle support tickets, remote logins, and new requests, which increases the chances of overlooking something important. To support remote staff, they also need to open parts of the internal system for outside access. This creates more points that hackers can target.

Here’s how these risks show up in real life. When a company switches to remote operations, the IT department has to design and activate new network rules, VPN setups, user permissions, device approvals, ports, and IP addresses. Every update adds complexity. Every new device or login raises the chance that someone misconfigures a setting or leaves a vulnerability open.

For many Houston businesses, these constant changes create the perfect opportunity for cyberattacks. More moving parts mean more room for error, and more room for error means a higher chance that something slips through the cracks.

Final Note

You can always get in touch with professionals from Ranger WiFi for your cybersecurity needs. We provide multiple services, from cloud options to firewalls; we have it all. Connect with us via (281) 638-8835