The 2022 Workforce Security Report

By: Danielle Guetta, Product Marketing Manager

With 57% of 1200 security professionals reporting that more than half of their workforce works remotely at least two days a week, the question of how these organizations secure their hybrid workforce arises. In our 2022 Workforce Security Report, we share the full insights into the state of workforce security. From secure remote access to data leakage and ransomware prevention, read on to find out the key insights from the report in this article.

Nearly two years into pandemic life, it seems that things are (very) slowly going back to normal. However, some aspects are here to stay, one of them being the way we work. Whether it is a hybrid work model or a completely remote one, WFH is clearly not a passing trend for organizations. This new normal begs the questions – how are organizations protecting their ever-growing attack surface? How are they keeping their remote workforce secure?

In the past months we have collected (anonymous) answers from 1200 security professionals about the way they work and how they secure their remote employees, through our 5-Minute Remote Workforce Security Assessment.

In this article we share some of the insights into how organizations secure remote access to corporate apps and assets, file sharing, data leakage and mobile devices, as well as the state of cloud email & collaboration apps adoption and vendor consolidation. You can find all the insights and full breakdowns in our 2022 Workforce Security Report.

Remote Work is here to stay

57% report that more than half of their workforce works remotely at least 2 days a week

Remote work has introduced many benefits, from saving time on commute to higher productivity and enabling better work-life balance. However, it also introduced more challenges to an already challenging cyber threat landscape.

With 57% of organizations reporting that more than half of their workforce works remotely at least two days a week, the question of how they enable and secure remote access to corporate assets and networks arises.

Organizations must allow employees to remotely access corporate apps and data in order to perform their job. 94% of organizations allow remote access to corporate apps and assets from unmanaged and managed devices, while 17% reported they allow remote access only from company-managed laptops. Download the report here for the complete breakdown of the used security methods.

Internet Access Security

Only 9% of organizations use all the 5 must-have protections against internet-based attacks

The internet has never been more dangerous. In 2021, over 10,000 new malicious files and 100,000 new malicious websites were discovered by Check Point Research every single day.

With that in mind, it is surprising that a whopping 20% of respondents reported that they don’t use any of the methods mentioned to protect remote users while browsing the internet, and only 9% use all the methods mentioned to protect against internet-based attacks.

26% don’t have an endpoint solution that can automatically detect and stop ransomware attacks

Protecting the endpoint has never been more challenging. The complexity and unpredictability of attacks and threats are continually on the rise. One of the most prominent of which is ransomware. In fact, in 2021 ransomware attacks increased by 93% year over year. With that, it’s important that organization’s endpoint security solution has strong anti-ransomware capabilities.

In our assessment, when asked the 1200 security professionals what their endpoint security can do in case of a ransomware attack, only 16% reported it can do all of the mentioned capabilities, and 26% reported their endpoint security solution can’t do any of the mentioned capabilities.

Mobile security

Only 12% of organizations that allow corporate access from mobile devices use a Mobile Threat Defense solution

Over the past year, researchers at Check Point Software have been observing a rise in the number of mobile-related attacks. In 2020 alone, 97% of organizations faced mobile threats, and 46% of organizations had at least one employee download a malicious mobile application.

With that, it is worrying that only 12% of respondents that allow corporate access from mobile devices use a Mobile Threat Defense solution to protect their corporate assets and users.

Data Protection

31% don’t use any of the mentioned methods to prevent sensitive business data from leaking outside the organization

Data leakage presents a huge risk to organizations. Employees can unintentionally or sometimes intentionally leak sensitive data to outside the organization. This can result in fines for non-compliance with regulations, losing a competitive advantage due to intellectual property being breached, and even damage to brand equity. This is where automated data protection comes into play.

When respondents were asked how they prevent sensitive business data from leaking, 31% reported that they don’t use any of the mentioned methods.

By now, organizations have fully adopted remote work as a way of life. However, it seems that when it comes to securing remote users and access, there is still a gap that needs to be bridged in order to balance between remote users’ productivity and ensuring the security of their devices, access and corporate assets.

For all the insights, download our 2022 Workforce Security Report.