Report: Securing the new hybrid workplace

Businesses around the world are developing a long-term plan and work model due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19. Amid this transition, Entrust, a global leader in trusted identity, payments and data protection, set out to uncover what is needed to secure the world’s hybrid workplaces in its new data study, “Securing the New Hybrid Workplace.”

Entrust surveyed 1,500 business leaders and 1,500 general employees from 10 countries to better understand how workers from the manager level to the C-suite are preparing for a new hybrid workplace. 

What were the key findings from the study? 

• Hybrid is here to stay, but security concerns are high: The overwhelming majority of respondent companies are moving to a long-term hybrid workplace approach. In fact, 80% of leaders and 75% of employees said their company is currently using a hybrid model or is fully remote and considering a hybrid work model. But, 54% of employees reported up to six instances of lost productivity due to network access issues and leaders cite home internet security (21%) and leakage of sensitive company data (20%) among their top security challenges.
• Visitor management is an in-office priority: Having a detailed record of who has been in and out of a company’s office is a larger priority in 2021. 96% of business leaders and 93% of employees agree that it is important for their company to have a system in place that logs and tracks visitors who enter and exit the building when employees work in the office.
• Home office data security presents new challenges: Businesses need to change their data security approach now that employees are more decentralised than ever before. However, while data security is a priority for leaders with 81% saying their company has offered employees training on it, only 61% of employees said their company offers this training, indicating a communication gap.

“With the uncertainties of the last year and a half, many organisations are well-adapted to remote work. With leaders planning the future state of their workplace models, we wanted to ask how they are adapting security and identity for the hybrid workplace: how are leaders and employees prepared to protect data and sensitive information? How will office security evolve? Will adapting to hybrid workplaces multiply vulnerabilities...or will enterprises choose smart security strategies to enable employees wherever they work?” said Anudeep Parhar, Chief Information Officer at Entrust. 

“With the study overwhelmingly indicating the desire of 91% of employees to work in a hybrid model moving forward, this data study provides businesses insight about how to democratise work from anywhere and incorporate security practices into their hybrid approach by working with companies like Entrust to implement solutions such as passwordless and biometric authentication, mobile identity verification and more,” he added.

Enhancing data security when working from home

81% of leaders said their company has offered employees training on data security, but the overwhelming majority (86%) said it was offered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating a trend towards enhanced data security.

While leaders are offering this training, only 61% of employees said their company offers this training, indicating a communication gap between leadership and their employees. By communicating these pieces of training to employees, leaders can help reduce the risk of security threats including phishing and ransomware attacks.