Remote Workforce Report: 60% of Enterprises to Invest Heavily in Secure Telework -

Nearly 60 percent of enterprises plan to invest more than $250,000 in secure telework over the next two years due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the "2020 Remote Workforce Cybersecurity Report" from network security company Fortinet.

Other key findings from the Fortinet report included:

Among enterprises that intend to invest in secure telework, cloud security (58 percent) ranked first among the top areas to upgrade, followed by VPN (55 percent) and network access control (55 percent).

Approximately two-thirds of enterprises intend to shift more than 50 percent of their workforce to telework.

92 percent said they intend to increase their telework budget.

83 percent indicated that it has been moderately or extremely challenging to rapidly adapt to telework in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

60 percent stated that they noticed an increase in data breach attempts during the pandemic, and 34 percent said they experienced a data breach.

The report also indicated that there are several areas that provide opportunities for enterprises to improve secure remote connectivity, such as:

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): VPNs help enterprises maintain secure remote connectivity, but MFA empowers enterprises to limit network access to authorized users.

Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN): Enterprises can use SD-WAN to provide end-users with secure remote access and scalable performance, regardless of network availability.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE): Enterprises can leverage SASE to combine network and security functions with WAN capabilities.

A lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals could make it difficult for enterprises to maintain secure remote connectivity as well, the report stated. However, MSSPs can help enterprises and other organizations secure their networks, devices and systems throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and after it ends.