Smart Working, best practices for enhancing cyber security. Leonardo: 12 rules for all companies.

20 March 2020

Smart working demand is rising dramatically as a consequence of the Coronavirus COVID-19 emergency. Enabling people to work remotely not only means providing the appropriate tools to do so, but also developing a complex system of digital interaction that goes beyond the jurisdiction of companies or public administration organisations – many of which may already lack policy and security protocols in place to operate beyond their secure networks.

We know that smart working has several positive outcomes. In the current crisis, where there is a global battle against widespread infection, the primary benefit is people being able to continue working while in isolation. But any smart working scenario also has many points of fragility and vulnerability – both for companies or smart workers, who are often unaware that they inadvertently may be the cause of breaches in corporate IT systems and where criminals are constantly looking for weaknesses and opportunities.

Today, this is more real than ever, and companies need to be fully aware of the risks that an unprotected implementation of smart working can cause. At the same time, there is an opportunity and a need for companies like Leonardo, which have the utmost attention to safety and security procedures in their DNA – especially in cyber security – to play a vital role.

We and our peers have a responsibility to share all our experience – not only with our domestic and international customers, but also with our supply chain and other small, medium and large companies and organisations, as well as individual end-users themselves.

With this in mind, Leonardo has drafted 12 simple guidelines on how to strengthen and secure a smart working environment, and exploit smart working’s full potential. Awareness and informed guidelines on both risky and correct behaviours are essential factors in defining better working practises for today and for the future.