Remote offices? Consider these 3 Security Tips

Does your advisory have more than one office?

Whether your firm has grown organically or merged, remote offices can pop up quickly. Suddenly more employees need to access information from various locations.

In no time, you might be dealing with a thrown-together means of sharing files and information—without much thought to workflow, continued growth, and the biggest issue of all—security. Before you know it, the situation you planned to deal with sooner can be putting the entire firm at risk.

Is your firm using Google Docs, iCloud, Dropbox or GoToMyPC in attempts to coordinate the use of shared files via remote offices? Do you have trouble finding master versions or know who is editing what? While these document vaults and sharing services may solve one problem, they may create many others.

Just because information can be accessed doesn’t mean it’s safe. Depending on the setup, you could be essentially leaving all of your offices unlocked—wide open—for anyone (hackers or even employees) to take anything. If you watch the news (or have seen the acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning TV show, Mr. Robot), you are well aware of the risks.

If you have multiple offices, here are some important questions to consider:

• Are all offices accessing the same central location—or is information “living” in multiple places?
• Are there gaps in security at remote offices?
• Are the right security policies in place?
• Is inter-office workflow seamless or frustrating?
• How are new remote offices fitting into the fold?

Solutions

System-wide security is all about doing things right behind-the-scenes. Your employees should be able to login to one main network from anywhere (and your information should retain complete security at all times). Here are some tips:

1. No matter what, store all files in one central location. Make sure that remote offices aren’t an excuse to store files remotely.
2. Ensure that one standard of access and security applies to all offices/access points. The same cybersecurity measures that (hopefully) apply to your main office and cloud environment should be extended to remote offices, wherever they are.
3. Avoid a situation where remote offices feel like they’re on an island with regards to technology. They will likely be forced to take risks with policies and procedures which will only worsen over time; control them from the get-go.

At RightSize Solutions, we understand that you have one priority at the top of your list—your clients. As our client, your security is our top priority.

Whether you have one office or 1000, your company as a whole will be protected by our uncompromising cybersecurity measures. As growth happens, new offices will be equally as protected as existing ones.

Has your RIA grown? If cybersecurity has fallen down the priority list, we can help.