Over the past 18 months, global tech companies have accelerated their plans to switch to a remote or hybrid working model. Tech professionals no longer need to box themselves inside the four walls of a physical office and can do the same — if not better — work wherever they are in the world. It not only increases employee satisfaction, but worldwide companies also benefit from a vast talent pool they couldn’t access before. From Argentina to Mozambique, hiring remote developers means you can tap into a unique skill set that’s otherwise unavailable when forcing employees to attend the office. However, despite the benefits for everyone involved, hiring remote developers can come at a cost. The biggest risk? Security concerns. It doesn’t matter how established your company is; hiring remote workers can jeopardize your security without sufficient due diligence. When working with software engineers and remote developers in other countries, here’s how you can manage your sensitive IP, such as your source code and private database data.
Tip #1: Create a security policy for remote developers
If you have employees in a physical office, that cybersecurity policy won’t guarantee security when hiring remote developers. Instead, create a new policy featuring updated guidelines for everyone to adhere to the safety protocols.
The first revolves around corporate devices. Your organization should offer employees computers, laptops, and mobile devices with your IT team configuring the vitals, such as firewalls, antivirus, and malware protection. This is one of the best ways to secure your remote work and sensitive IP.
Next, look at any third-party providers. These vendors should be responsible for creating entry points to your system infrastructure, so be sure to include them in your new policy. To do this, create service level agreements, as these documents force the relevant parties to work to your organization’s security policies — no questions asked.
The final section of your policy should revolve around removing shared accounts. Doing this means you’ll lower the risk of anybody with unauthorized access trying to see or reach something they shouldn’t.
Tip #2: Choose suitable remote access software
One of the most effective ways of protecting your network when working with remote developers is to use remote computer access. Two of the most common methods include:
- Desktop sharing: Connect to a remote device using a host device outside the office.
- Virtual private network (VPN): An encrypted, secure connection between a user and network or two networks.
Many assume Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is secure enough to adopt. While RDP machines service a purpose, you’re also running on somebody else’s computer (the cloud). This often isn’t considered secure enough, which is why physical machines with VPNs are a better solution when trying to manage sensitive IP.
RDP only gives you access, not connectivity, making it a desktop sharing solution. When managing your network, it’s better to opt for a tunneling solution, such as IPsec, P2P, or OVPN. When setting up the tunnel, you can set up any remote desktop solution of your choosing. A tunneling solution is a necessity because anybody can then hack the connection using any savvy techniques, such as Man in the Middle (MiTM).
Your business can provide the hardware and pre-install the relevant software and firewalls beforehand. For example, you might offer each new remote developer a brand new MacBook, but you should install a bunch of software onto it via your IT team. This includes software such as a VPN, like CISCO, and a firewall that can filter or record traffic, making it effective for the management team.
Many tech companies ship their remote employees hardware with preinstalled VPNs, especially if the role involves accessing sensitive areas such as a database or API endpoints belonging to a corporate domain.
Tip #3: Make two-factor authentication compulsory
Logging into the central system shouldn’t be entirely effortless, especially when accessing company data remotely. Instead, make two-factor authentication compulsory. This simple yet essential step can instantly improve your information’s security with two separate requirements, such as an extra pin or password.
Creating a mandatory two-factor or multi-factor authentication policy ensures password compromises never result in account compromises. However, it isn’t as simple as setting it up and letting it do its thing in the background. A word of advice: Avoid SMS codes when adopting two-factor authentication.
It’s now a common technique and phone numbers are easily accessible. With social engineering still rife, don’t rely on your phone number when receiving a different code. Instead, one-time passwords, which is what Google Authenticator offers, are a safer option. This is because, as it says on the tin, it’s only in use one time and for a certain period before the code resets.
Tip #4: Use a reliable password management software
Simply communicating the need for complex passwords isn’t always enough. Sure, it’s one of the easiest ways to protect your critical data, but merely telling your remote team to use different passwords and change them regularly is only the first line of defense, which is easy to penetrate.
Data leaks often stem from poor password management. They’re either too basic and easy to guess, the same password is used across multiple, sensitive systems or complex passwords are written on post-it notes with no care for security. When hiring remote developers, this is even more critical.
You never know who is around when remote workers are working in public spaces, for instance.
A solution you can adopt instantly is using password management software. This software isn’t just a place to log every password that’s being used. It’s about generating and extracting complex password combinations that are near-impossible to randomly guess.
Some password management software can also enforce automatic password changes. Remote developers — and every other employee — can have their passwords reset to limit how long they continue using the same password. Reducing the lifespan of passwords also reduces the risk of sensitive data becoming vulnerable.
Password combinations used in such software are stored in encrypted databases, making them much safer than alternatives. Add this to your cybersecurity policy. If you don’t enforce automatic password changes, make sure your policy reminds your remote employees to use the software to change the password every so often.
Tip #5: Cover the basics
Some practices might seem basic on paper, but these first lines of defense are arguably the most important to cover to ensure security when trying to manage sensitive IP.
Encrypt company data
Simple but effective. When exchanging data between your organization’s systems and your remote workers, you need to ensure it’s encrypted as it travels through the network. Again, this is where the pre-loaded VPN and firewall device are handy, as you’re offering built-in encryption beforehand to lower any security risks.
Turn on firewall
To control network traffic to and from your remote employees’ devices, ensure the firewall is turned on. When providing devices to your employees, your IT team can make sure it’s turned on for everybody as standard.
Encrypt disks and backups
Encrypting entire disks can make devices utterly useless without a password if they’re ever stolen or fall into the wrong hands. With full disk encryption and no password, nobody can access the sensitive data stored on the device with full disk encryption and no password. Today, most devices have this level of encryption installed by default, but you can also have your IT team toggle this setting for optimum security.
The same goes for encrypting backups. Hardware always has a shelf life. Whether it’s the usual wear and tear or, at worst, a virus infects devices or ransomware takes over, hardware isn’t designed to last forever. With this in mind, encrypt your backups to keep data safe if hardware goes missing or reaches end of life.
Take precautions with your internet connection
There’s more than bandwidth involved when sharing an internet connection among employees. With so much tracking happening behind the scenes and information being read (including passwords and emails), using a secure internet connection is non-negotiable.
Make sure your internet connection is private and that no unauthorized people have access to your connection.
Avoid public WiFi
This is quite complex when you consider that you’re hiring remote employees. A remote or hybrid policy gives more freedom for employees to work where they want. It could be on a beach or at the local Starbucks. However, using public internet via an unknown server means security is never guaranteed and can put you at risk.
Public WiFi is where hackers tend to cause the most damage. It’s an easy target as anybody can access it without ease. Make it a part of your policy to remind remote employees not to use public WiFi when dealing with sensitive information, as public networks are easily penetrable.
Tip #6: Review network access privilege
How many users within your organization are considered superusers without really needing that level of access? If this is what you default to, it means everyone in your organization has access to sensitive system privileges, allowing them to make any changes they desire to the network and take pivotal actions, such as installing software, amending settings, and updating user data.
If this falls into the wrong hands, you’re inviting cybercriminals or remote employees to install malicious software or cause chaos to your network security.
Before handing out more superuser access to remote developers, pull up a list of everyone’s current access and scrutinize that list. The aim is to ensure only a select few have superuser or super admin privileges. These should be the people you trust the most and specialists with a genuine need for the level of access.
More often than not, try and give remote developers and any other employee standard access to complete their day-to-day tasks. It’s a simple thought process: If a user doesn’t require specific privileges, don’t give that level of access to them.
Tip #7: Provide training
Employee negligence is another area where organizations fall short and risk themselves and their security. However, this isn’t necessarily intentional. Instead, it comes down to a lack of cybersecurity training and a failure to create a culture of safety.
Whether it’s internal training or outsourcing these sessions, employees can learn a lot from basic security protocols right through to complexities they might have never been aware of. These sessions should also range from physical security training, such as devices and also internet protocols.
Continue offering these refreshers, so remote employees always know what’s expected, along with the regularly updated cybersecurity policy.
The importance of managing sensitive IP when hiring remote developers
It’s impossible to be prepared when you don’t know what your organization could face. With new methods created every day, each savvier than the last, any strategic attack could put your business and data at risk.
Social engineering, malware infections, phishing — there are countless threats you’re possibly opening the door to with poor security protocols. But sometimes, it’s the basics that can let you down, where remote employees can get access to sensitive IP.
Often, it comes down to pure trust when you hire remote employees and the level of access you give them. But hiring a remote team is complicated, and protecting susceptible data and information is even more challenging. Employees are located worldwide and require access to accounts, data, and other information to complete their tasks. Hence, a combination of trust and efficient security protocols is paramount.
Thankfully, modern technology and procedures make it easier to manage sensitive IP, but it still introduces possible dangers. Despite remote teams using devices that can put sensitive data and IP at risk, following the tips and strategies above will keep you better protected than ever before.
Part of the challenge companies today face is actually sourcing the right remote talent. As mentioned in the article, companies struggle to attract talent because they don’t have the skills or resources to know what’s happening in other countries
That’s where we can help. At VanHack, our experience, global talent pool, thorough screening process, and superior time to hire are why over 600 organizations trust us as their go-to tech recruitment partner. Right now, we have over 400,000+ tech candidates available for you to reach.
As we work with talent from across the globe, we aren’t limited to one location. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you hire remote tech talent from around the globe.