Working from home has become the norm for the majority of the UK’s office workers in the past year, with a third of the UK’s workforce now permanently based at home.

One area that, so far, has not yet caught up to new way of working is cyber-security, with many firms reporting that cyber-attacks have been relentless in the past year. This comes as a report from Hayes Connor Solicitors shows that around one in five workers have received no training in cyber-security, while another study suggested that 57% of IT decision makers believe that remote workers could expose their firm to the risk of a data breach.

Further to this, research from Theta Global Advisors shows that 26% of workers had not been given appropriate training on how to perform their job during lockdown, while 17% they will no longer have a permanent office.

Chris Biggs, Partner at Theta Global Advisors – an accounting and consultancy disruptor – has commented:

“Remote working and work from home has presented a huge number of challenges to businesses both large and small and not least in how to transfer office-based and security sensitive work to the home office. Remote working is far more complex for most companies than simply taking home a laptop or desktop and getting on with it. Most firms will need specific systems and cloud-based solutions tailored to their needs to make sure that it is done in a secure way.

Cyber-security is more important than ever before, clients are hyper-aware of the risk of data breaches and just as importantly, making sure your own systems are secure is key. This is a problem that is especially relevant, now, to smaller firms that are looking to compete with the likes of the Big Four who will likely need professional help to demonstrate that they are just as capable of delivering a secure service as the big players.

It is easy to assume that remote working is only temporary but investing in this increased security will be of huge use going forward and will pay off in the long-term as home working looks set to stay.”