Information Security Threats and Working from Home Culture: Taxonomy, Risk Assessment and Solutions

Area of Science:

• Information Security
• Cybersecurity
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a widespread shift to remote work policies.
• This transition exposed organizations to unprecedented information security threats.
• Existing security frameworks were often inadequate for the new work-from-home (WFH) paradigm.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop comprehensive asset and threat taxonomies tailored for the WFH culture.
• To conduct a thorough analysis of information security threats associated with remote work.
• To provide actionable insights into threat impact, occurrence, and mitigation strategies.

Main Methods:

• Creation of novel asset and threat taxonomies specific to the remote work environment.
• Systematic analysis of identified threats, including their potential impact and timing.
• Review of commercially available and academic research-based prevention methods.

Main Results:

• Presentation of detailed taxonomies for understanding remote work security risks.
• Quantification of the impact and expected occurrence of various WFH-related security threats.
• Identification and description of diverse prevention strategies and relevant use cases.

Conclusions:

• Established taxonomies provide a structured approach to managing remote work security.
• Proactive threat analysis and risk assessment are crucial for organizational resilience.
• Implementing tailored prevention methods is essential to mitigate WFH-specific cybersecurity risks.