HP CISO reveals 3 ways to heal the remote IT rift

“Apathetic, frustrated and rebellious”. That was the stark gauge of today’s workforce as revealed by HP’s latest survey on office cyber security trends.The findings showed that IT teams have been “forced into compromising security for business continuity” at a time of rising threats for remote workers. What’s more, IT department attempts to increase at-home security measures have been routinely ignored or rebuffed.Nearly all IT managers said they felt pressure to compromise security for business continuity.. Almost half (48%) of 18-24 year old workers viewed security tools as a “hindrance” – leading to nearly a third (31%) trying to bypass corporate security policies to get work done. Smoothing the way aheadBut there is still hope for strained-at-the-seams staff relations, says Joanna Burkey, CISO at HP Inc. “This is a complex issue and the policies and measures that worked before the pandemic might not be so suitable moving forwards,” the cybersecurity veteran tells SC Media UK.“Given all the difficulty and uncertainty when working alone from home, it’s understandable that security can feel frustrating… it’s understandable that IT teams can feel like the bad guys, or that they have had to make compromises,” she points out.No more ‘bad guys’To resolve this home security face-off, Burkey recommends enabling a more collaborative security culture by promoting consistent and frequent dialogue across the enterprise – empowering people to do their jobs as easily as possible while still being protected.“As leaders, we must be intent on ensuring that we’re reassessing security and providing our teams and employees with the best support for the hybrid workplace of the future,” she says.Reversing resentment Put simply, if IT leaders fail to transform strained relationships between security teams and employees into partnerships that drive success, frictions could escalate – sparking yet more risky user behaviours. “If employees don’t understand the goals and reasoning behind their organisation’s security policies, and if controls are too obtrusive, this can lead to apathy, resentment and even circumvention,” Burkey warns.Simultaneously, IT teams are finding that remote working on potentially insecure networks has resulted in heightened threats from ransomware, firmware attacks against laptops, and exploited vulnerabilities. Burkey says this tense perceived clash of needs represents a “ticking time bomb” for a breach. “Organisations need to address tensions and re-evaluate security measures based on the needs of both the business and the hybrid worker.”Great expectations According to the HP CISO, employees have a new set of expectations around the technology they use every day to do their jobs – they crave a seamless experience that doesn’t hinder productivity. “They expect things to work quickly and refuse to be encumbered, especially younger generations…18-to-24-year-olds are the future workforce and have grown up in a connected world filled with smooth user experiences,” Burkey says.“Security leaders need to keep this in mind, listening to the youngest end users to understand how security impacts their workflows. What we learn from these users can be very valuable in developing strategies that enable all employees to focus on their work and not on the security tools.”Burkey’s three steps to promoting IT team-vs-employee harmony1) Win cyber hearts and minds Leaders should make adjustments, such as providing the rationale behind a security decision or seeking user input before deploying new policies. Understanding ‘why’ can truly change hearts and minds. By building collaborative security partnerships across the workforce, cybersecurity will start to become a cultural cornerstone. 2) Make friends and influence peopleLeaders should partner with all areas of the business to embed security into the organisation’s DNA and create a more collaborative security culture. Cybersecurity is an end-to-end discipline in which everyone needs to engage. 3) Be as unobtrusive as possibleLeaders should seek out new levels of endpoint protection that offer advanced remote management while being as unobtrusive as possible to avoid end-users trying to circumvent it.

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HP CISO reveals 3 ways to heal the remote IT rift

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HP CISO reveals 3 ways to heal the remote IT rift

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