When I started my first corporate IT job in 2000, maybe 25 of the 500 end users I supported had laptops. I’m no longer in IT management, but I still know people in the biz. Today, it is a much different story; almost every employee gets a laptop. The on-the-go employee is not just a fad. In fact, for some companies, it’s a way of life. Your employee is in the office on Monday, working from home on Tuesday, and for the remainder of the week, on the road visiting customers.
According to a Gallup poll done just last year, the percentage of telecommuters is on the rise. In 1995, just 9% of employees reported working from home. That number had risen to 37% in 2015, which represents an increase of four times the number of remote workers in a twenty year period. With that kind of increase and more computer devices off the corporate network, the risk factor increases exponentially. It means an increase in the usage of unknown non-corporate networks and non-regulated traffic, and it’s that unknown that raises big concerns.
This trend can’t be denied, and it’s also not going away. With flexible employees, you also need flexible technology. If you purchase a $100K SIEM and $50K Next-Gen Firewall/Proxy, but your employees are not in the office using them, then it must be asked, what good are they? I’m not saying there isn’t a work-around. There most certainly is, but with it, there is no 100% guarantee that an employee will use the technology for its intended purpose.
The proposed solution is simple - install lightweight, always-on, fully functioning technology on the endpoints and brains in the cloud. The second your computer comes online, it is reporting, which means at all times and from anywhere. Carbon Black platform operates in just this way. With its sensors, our security team has the ability to view and react to all detected threats from anywhere and at any time.
See a demo of WatchPoint today.
