# How does remote working increase cyber-security risk?

It moves company devices and data onto networks you do not control, and it widens the ways in. Laptops sit on home Wi-Fi next to family devices and an old router, connect from hotels and trains, and travel to places where they can be lost. Staff sign in from outside, so a stolen password becomes usable from anywhere, and remote-access services such as VPN gateways and remote desktop must be reachable from the internet. Support also gets harder, because updates and fixes depend on the laptop connecting. The answer is mostly identity and endpoint work: multi-factor authentication everywhere, full-disk encryption, endpoint protection and automatic updates on every laptop, and a VPN or gateway that reaches only what each person needs. The network part is where remote devices reach the company: NetSenX sees VPN traffic on a monitored segment behind the gateway and flags scanning, lateral movement and beaconing from it, on every plan, and an agent on a Linux or macOS laptop watches that laptop wherever it is.

FAQ: [Remote work and exposed services](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/remote) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-does-remote-work-increase-cyber-risk

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/is-someone-inside-your-network
- https://netsenx.com/en/encrypted-traffic-analysis

## Related questions

- [How do I secure remote workers who access the company network?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-to-secure-remote-workers-accessing-the-company-network)
- [Do we need a VPN for remote work?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/do-we-need-a-vpn-for-remote-work)
- [Is a VPN protected only by a password enough?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/is-a-vpn-without-multi-factor-authentication-enough)
- [Why are unpatched VPN gateways such a risk?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/why-are-unpatched-vpn-gateways-a-risk)
- [What is split tunnelling on a VPN, and is it a risk?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-is-split-tunnelling-and-is-it-a-risk)