How to Restore Defenses to Newly Remote Workforces

“Operating without security is not an option.”

Robin Vann is Chief Solution Officer and CTO at Reliance acsn, an end-to-end cybersecurity firm based in London.

Vann and his teams provide high risk, highly regulated organizations with a complete range of cybersecurity services.

When the pandemic struck, Vann and his teams worked on the front lines with their clients. He watched new vulnerabilities open, and came to see how organizations must protect themselves in this moment.

Here’s what he learned.

Today’s unsecured remote workforce

Vann felt impressed as he watched organizations rapidly create new remote workforces. But he also grew worried. He saw many organizations massively increase their attack surface while simultaneously stripping away multiple layers of defense.

The result has been predictable. Remote workers are no longer safe behind the many security controls that once protected them, and the volume and severity of breaches has increased.

Since the pandemic struck, Vann has experienced an increased number of incident response requests, and has witnessed some breached organizations experience seven-figure losses.

Vann understands why many organizations deprioritized security during the transition to remote workforces, and he understands that organizations now face significant budget pressures that make new security investments feel challenging. Yet Vann also knows that the upfront cost of response is often three times the cost of prevention, and that even in challenging times it makes financial sense to prepare properly.

Vann’s advice: Select the right tooling

Vann believes most cybersecurity incidents are preventable, and argues that organizations must focus on establishing the fundamentals – visibility and control over endpoints, no matter where those endpoints are located.

For Vann, developing these basics does not demand a massive investment, and will deliver meaningful benefit to organizations currently operating without security.

To dive deeper into Vann’s story, and to learn more about what happened when the world stayed home, visit world-at-home.tanium.com.

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