When working remotely, your laptop, phone, and home network will store the same information that your office would have once protected. Your client files, logins for portfolios, and access to banking services are all accessible.
Many could be signed in as active sessions or saved as credentials in your browser. Anyone who breaches your device could reach all of your data.
Our article looks at the risks remote investors, consultants, and entrepreneurs face, and the routines and tools that dramatically help minimise them.
Why Remote Professionals Are a Target
Cyber attackers frequently target financial and data-focused industries. In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported 859,532 complaints involving losses of $16.6 billion.
This represents a 33% increase over the 2023 figure (2024 IC3 Annual Report). Investment fraud caused the loss of a staggering $6.6 billion, with phishing/spoofing being the most frequently reported cybercrime category.
As a result, remote professionals can face numerous risks of unwanted exposure.
1. They depend on home, hotel, and co-working networks that they do not control.
2. Sensitive files are stored across different devices and cloud accounts.
3. There is usually no IT team in a position to notice unusual activity.
Secure Your Connection
Reducing these risks starts with securing the networks that remote workers rely on every day. Your home or public network router is the gateway to all of the above. Four changes can make it more difficult to gain access:
1. Alter the default admin password.
2. When firmware updates become available, install them.
3. Use WPA3, or if that's not available, use WPA2 with a long passphrase. The WPA2 and WPA3 are both Wi-Fi security standards that encrypt traffic between your devices and router. Although WPA3 is the newer version with stronger protection against password-guessing attacks.
4. Connect your smart devices and guests to their own separate Wi-Fi network.
Encrypt Your Traffic
A home VPN encrypts traffic between your device and the VPN server, making it harder for attackers on the network to monitor your connections. This applies whether you're using your home broadband or connecting to Wi-Fi at a hotel.
However, a VPN only provides one layer of protection. It does not prevent phishing and cannot safeguard a device already infected with malware. Mobile data is generally a safer option than public Wi-Fi for banking or trading while on your travels.
Lock Down Your Accounts
Phishing is the most reported type of crime in the FBI's data. It’s essential that login security gets as much consideration as network security. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) states that users who enable multifactor authentication (MFA) are considerably less likely to be hacked.
Identifies FIDO/WebAuthn security keys as the only widely available phishing-resistant option.
1. Ensure that MFA is turned on for your email, banking, brokerage, and cloud storage accounts. Use a hardware security key whenever the platform supports it.
2. Create a unique and lengthy password for each account by using a password manager.
3. Check your account’s recovery details and keep up to date with active session details regularly, as access to your inbox could allow an attacker to reset passwords for other accounts.
4. Verify any new payment or wire transfer details by calling the sender number that you have verified previously.
The same FBI report states that business email compromise caused victims to lose about $2.8 billion in 2024.
Separate Work, Client, and Personal Data
Account protection is only a part of the protection. Keeping any data separate can limit any potential damage if the main storage or account is compromised.
· Work using a separate device or a different user profile.
· Set up full-disk encryption so that if the laptop is lost, it doesn't result in a data breach.
· Ensure that your operating system and applications are up to date and enable automatic updates where possible.
· Back up your important files to an encrypted drive and regularly carry out a restore test.
· Whenever you leave your device unattended, lock your screen and use a privacy screen in shared areas.
Conclusion
It’s essential to keep up to date with modern digital security know-how. The time it takes to set up simple guardrails is invaluable to the potential damage hackers could cause. The FBI's figures clearly illustrate the risks involved, and the solutions are straightforward.
· Secure your home and public connections.
· Use MFA and a password manager.
· Be diligent and check any requests for payment.
· Store your work and data on devices that are encrypted and up-to-date.
