The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown guidelines forced many companies to adopt remote working. Remote work was not new concept, but the reality of a digitizing the entire office proved to be a challenging task and many employers are still trying to figure it out. Gartner asked companies about their post-pandemic, return-to-office strategy and 47% of companies who participated stated that they planned to give employees the choice of working remotely full-time and 82% planned to give employees the option of both remote and in-person work. The reality is remote work is a part of the new normal and employers must learn to combat growing concerns of cybersecurity threats and remote onboarding that come with it.
The challenges facing remote work
Cybersecurity and other IT security issues account for a majority of issues affecting remote work. A new report by HP, shows that changing work styles and behaviors are creating new vulnerabilities for companies, individuals, and their data. 70% of office workers surveyed admit to using their work devices for personal tasks, while 69% are using personal laptops or printers for work activities. As a result, remote workers are increasingly being targeted by hackers. It is also important to note that there has been a 238% increase in global cyberattack volume during the pandemic. Additionally, Velocity Smart Technology Market Research Report 2021 found that 70% of remote workers said they had experienced IT problems during the pandemic and 54% had to wait up to three hours for the issue to be resolved. Without the security protections that office systems provide (i.e. firewalls and blacklisted IP addresses), companies are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. In short, employees that work from home are at a much greater risk of having security issues than those that work in office.
Another issue effecting our new normal is handling new employee onboarding remotely. Remote job openings are on a massive growth path and even though remote work is not a new concept, companies have been tasked with conducting the onboarding process virtually remote. For some companies, this process was traditionally done physically, but with lockdown guidelines, companies had to pivot towards remote onboarding. This pivot caused HR professionals require more paperwork to verify identities, thus creating more work for both employer and employee.
Combat the issues that face remote work with biometrics
Increasing threats to cybersecurity and false identification have caused many companies to adopt rigid and complicated methods to combat these issues. However, solving identity and security issues can be made easy with biometric technology. The technology is easy-to-use and provides companies with the most secure authentication method.
In the past, biometric authentication has been used to replace passwords on some mobile devices and in some mobile apps. With the growing need for digital identity verification, biometric technology can be used in the work-force as a secure method of identity verification and to improve cybersecurity. In order to do this, multi-factor authentication must evolve to include biometrics. Biometric multi-factor authentication works similarly to traditional multi-factor authentication, the only difference is one of the authentication methods is a biometric scan instead of a secret code. When employees attempt to access an enterprise application, they enter their usernames, and a notification is pushed to their registered mobile device. Device possession is the first test, and the second challenge is that the user must complete a biometric sample capture (i.e., fingerprint, facial, or voice recognition) to prove that they are the person authorized to use the device for login at the time of the login attempt.
Biometric technology can similarly be streamlined into current onboarding practices to further verify that new employees are who they claim to be. Identity verification is an essential step in employee onboarding because it ensures the information provided by the applicant is truthful and accurate. Biometric technology not only simplifies the process but adds an additional level of security. The technology can conduct biometric facial matching to compare a selfie taken by the person to the image on their ID. In this example, the onboarding and authentication processing time is significantly decreased with the incorporation of biometric technology. Additionally, the technology makes authentication more secure by ensuring the user is a living person. The workload for both employees and employers is reduced, thus providing new hires with the opportunity to begin work faster.
Simplify your authentication methods by incorporating biometrics
Enterprise security management is imperative for all companies regardless of product offering or company size. The sharp increase in cybersecurity threats since the pandemic makes biometric technology integration an essential decision in order for companies to be at the forefront of protecting their data. The Knomi® mobile biometric authentication framework from Aware is a strong option for businesses looking to protect their data and simplify their current employee onboarding process. With Knomi®, companies can conduct document verification, liveness detection, biometric facial matching to ID remotely. The framework is secure, flexible, and easy-to-use.
For more information about the Knomi® mobile biometric authentication framework, please contact us below or visit our webpage.