Remote work is the norm now for SMBs as well as larger businesses. There are many benefits to establishing a remote and/or hybrid workforce. However, it brings new security risks.
Proliferation of Remote Workers
Industry studies from last year indicate that about 20% of Americans were working remotely, while an additional 28–30% work in hybrid models. Roughly 74% of employers now offer hybrid options, with the majority of hybrid employees reporting increased productivity.
As of 2025, about 24% of new job postings were hybrid. Projections suggest up to 32 million Americans (approximately 22% of the workforce) will be remote in 2025.
SMB benefits of remote workers include cost savings of approximately $10,000/year per employee through reduced office space. Also, statistics indicate 59–62% of employees are more likely to stay with hybrid/remote-friendly employers.
Cybersecurity Recommendations for SMB Remote/Hybrid Workforces
Remote and hybrid arrangements introduce unique vulnerabilities, especially for SMBs with limited IT resources. Below is a list of best practices:
Secure Devices & Networks
Use organization-owned devices (not BYOD) with antivirus and endpoint protection, full-disk encryption, and regular patching. Enforce the use of secure VPNs and safer options like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Use DNS filtering to encrypt traffic and block malicious sites.
Think about employees on home Wi-Fi, for example. That alone creates a wider attack surface. Simply handing out laptops without adequate security will not suffice.
Identity & Access Management
Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all services and devices, especially for admin accounts.
Secure Infrastructure
Use a physical firewall in the office as well as cloud-based advanced security protections for remote workers. Limit privileges using least privilege and remove unnecessary admin rights. Utilize cloud-based endpoint management for monitoring and policy enforcement.
Employee Training & Policies
Regularly conduct cyber hygiene training: teach recognition of phishing, social engineering, strong passwords, and incident reporting.
Backups & Incident Planning
Maintain regular, tested backups — both local and off-site/cloud-based, with disaster recovery plans. Develop an incident response plan, including reporting processes and endpoint scans before/after remote work trips
Zero Trust Mindset
Assume every device or user is compromised, Adopt Zero Trust principles through least-privilege access, continuous authentication, and network segmentation.
Summary
Remote/hybrid work is here to stay, representing approximately 20-30% of the workforce. SMBs are saving money and gaining talent flexibility, which reinforces the remote worker trend.
But security risks increase unless addressed — due to weak home networks, phishing, and unmanaged devices.
SMBs should proactively secure devices, networks, identities, and reinforce through policies, training, backups, monitoring, and adopting zero-trust practices.
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