CyberSmart to lead research on cybersecurity in the blended workplace

As lockdown measures tighten once more in response to COVID cases, many organisations are being forced to consider a future where workers may never fully return to their offices.

  • 4 years ago Posted in
Many businesses made the transition suddenly- without remote working policies and little real guidance for their employees. There’s no doubt these hybrid home-office workplaces bring complex challenges when it comes to privacy and security- but with such a rapid transition, do we understand exactly what those risks are?

 

CyberSmart is looking for the answer. Starting this week, CyberSmart will bring its expertise in SME cybersecurity to join a research group examining the risks to trust, identity, privacy and security in new work environments as a result of COVID-19.

 

The three-month project is part of SPRITE+, a consortium funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to bring together people involved in research, practice, and policy with a focus on digital contexts.

 

This project was one of several selected for funding through a SPRITE ‘sandpit’ designed to bring together academics and industry experts to explore trust, identity, privacy, and security in the post-COVID digital economy.

 

CyberSmart chose to develop a project focused on the blended workplace because of its relevance to their customers who are struggling to protect their employees and operations in this new world.

 

“This is important research for CyberSmart to be involved with,” says Ben Koppleman, CyberSmart’s Head of Research and Innovation who is leading on the project. “We want to provide an evidence-based approach to understand what new security risks have emerged due to the dramatic shift to home working, and what new measures have been taken to manage these risks.”

 

Balancing security of the company with the private life of the employee is another area they will examine. “We want to know if employers are placing new security demands on their employees and if these demands create tensions with employees' privacy needs,” adds Koppleman.

 

The project group, which consists of academics from four different universities and two industry experts, will begin with a literature review but will also include qualitative research with evidence gathered directly from organisations and their employees. The project will compare how home working has affected both large enterprises and SMEs.

 

While the academics will take the research lead, CyberSmart will support as an industry partner to provide access to relevant SMEs, as well as contribute to the risk analysis.

 

The project will contribute to CyberSmart's horizon scanning to better understand how COVID has impacted digital transformation, as well as inform its innovation plans in case the research identifies or proposes new organisational practices to manage security risks.

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