As more and more businesses allow work-from-home alternatives to their employees, the challenges of remote work productivity and security have become evident. Businesses are eager to showcase their flexibility in supporting remote work for their employees, but these changes can’t compromise the integrity of the organization.

Working from home is on the rise in the United States. According to a FlexJobs & Global Workplace Analytics report, there has been a 159% Increase in Remote Work Since 2005. If you work for a company that has instituted a remote work policy on a full or part-time basis, it is essential to put security measures in place on your home network, just like how you would in a traditional office environment.

Cyber-crime is increasing as well as users move their work home. Security experts predict a 30-40% increase in cyber-attacks as remote work increases. Protecting your system is an intimidating task to take on for the majority of Americans, but there are some simple steps you can take to secure and encrypt your data. The first step to take is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Ransomware attacks often seem to happen out of nowhere—that’s  how it all started for the legal office of Schuchat, Cook & Werner. An associate attorney was simply opening documents and emails saved onto a USB drive, when one of the files released a ransomware attack into the company’s computer system.

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting electronic data and systems from a cyberattack. Having a robust cybersecurity framework is vital to protect sensitive information. Sadly, almost 50% of businesses have already experienced a cyberattack. Of that 50%, nearly 1 in 4 suffered significant damage or loss to their own or public data. The IT landscape may be a rough sea full of black hat pirates, but fortunately, stronger sailors are made through awareness and education.

Here at SumnerOne, since it’s early in the year, we’re thinking a lot about trends for 2020—and beyond—and how they’ll affect our customers in the small business and corporate spaces alike. We recently wrote about making time to create business resolutions and how to implement a mobile workplace strategy. There are several technology solution trends that we’ll be discussing in later blogs, but two trends that are exciting us right now are metamorphic design and corporate burnout.

New year, new ways for sophisticated cyber actors to exploit the vulnerabilities in our programs. Yesterday the National Security Agency (NSA) released a statement that they'd found a major security flaw in Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016/2019.

Innovation, leadership, and culture writer Max McKeown once said, "All failure is failure to adapt; all success is successful adaptation." Staying up to date on contemporary technological changes is key to maximizing efficiency and maintaining adequate security in your small to midsize business.