Remote work isn’t going away, but neither are its security gaps. Discover the four biggest cybersecurity risks of hybrid work and how MSPs can proactively secure clients in a permanently remote world.
Remote work is no longer a temporary fix; it’s the new norm.
But with this shift comes a wave of cybersecurity challenges that many organizations still aren’t prepared for.
According to Fortinet’s 2023 Work-from-Anywhere Global Study, 60% of organizations continue to accommodate employees working from home, and 55% have a hybrid work strategy. Moreover, over the past 2 to 3 years, 62% of companies experienced a breach at least partially attributable to vulnerabilities related to work-from-anywhere.
These aren’t just abstract threats. For managed service providers (MSPs), they manifest as misconfigured remote access tools, unmonitored personal devices, and end users who don’t recognize phishing attempts when they see them.
The shift to remote environments has blurred the boundaries between personal and professional, expanded attack surfaces overnight, and exposed countless businesses to risks they didn’t anticipate. And while larger enterprises can allocate substantial resources to address these issues, small to mid-sized businesses, the core of most MSP portfolios, often don’t have that luxury.
This blog explores the four most pressing cybersecurity challenges in remote work, the crucial role MSPs play in mitigating them, and the best practices that create a secure, sustainable remote access strategy for the long term.
Top 4 Cybersecurity Challenges of Remote Work
The challenges of securing a remote workforce go beyond just installing antivirus software or issuing a company laptop. For MSPs, the real test lies in navigating the messy middle: where employees blend personal habits with professional responsibilities, and where the company perimeter has essentially dissolved.
Here are the top four cybersecurity threats MSPs must tackle when managing remote and hybrid clients:
Blurred Lines Between Personal and Office Devices
The line between personal and professional devices has all but disappeared in most remote work setups.
According to Lookout, 92% of remote workers perform work tasks on their personal mobile devices, a trend that expands attack surfaces well beyond company-issued hardware.
This creates serious visibility issues. MSPs managing device fleets can’t monitor or patch what hasn’t been onboarded. Worse, these personal devices often lack basic security controls like endpoint detection and response (EDR), encryption, or mobile threat defense (MTD). If compromised, they can easily become a bridge into business-critical systems.
Connecting to Office Networks with Unsecured Devices
Even when clients issue company-managed devices, MSPs still face an uphill battle: remote users frequently connect through unpatched routers, outdated operating systems, or unsecured home networks.
In Fortinet’s recent study, 62% of organizations reported breaches that were at least partially attributed to remote work vulnerabilities.
Unsecured endpoints and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies introduce risk that traditional perimeter defenses can’t account for. Shadow IT adds another layer; employees may still use unmanaged devices for convenience or due to a lack of training.
Without centralized control or mobile device management (MDM) systems in place, any of these endpoints could be the weak link that an attacker exploits.
Unsecured Wi-Fi and Poorly Configured Home Networks
Home networks weren’t built for enterprise-grade security. And yet, they’ve become the default access point for countless employees working full-time from home.
Weak router passwords, outdated firmware, and a lack of network segmentation can leave even patched and managed devices exposed. Compromised smart home devices, from doorbells to TVs, can also serve as indirect entry points, especially when connected to the same local network as company laptops.
While public Wi-Fi poses obvious risks, poorly secured home networks represent a quieter, persistent threat that often goes unmonitored, unless MSPs step in to assess and enforce minimum configuration standards.
Unsafe Practices and Unregulated Apps
User behavior remains one of the biggest X-factors in cybersecurity.
Lookout’s research shows that 32% of remote and hybrid workers use apps or software not approved by IT.
This includes personal email platforms, unsecured cloud storage tools, and messaging apps that bypass data loss prevention (DLP) and audit logging. While these workarounds are often driven by convenience or lack of access, they expose client environments to data leaks, non-compliance risks, and long-term shadow IT problems.
For MSPs, it’s not enough to lock down infrastructure. End-user training, secure-by-default workflows, and regular assessments are essential to keep client environments from drifting into high-risk territory.
The Role of MSPs in Securing Remote Work
As remote and hybrid work environments become the norm, MSPs have taken on a broader responsibility, not just managing infrastructure, but securing it across decentralized endpoints, networks, and user behaviors.
The disappearance of the traditional office perimeter means every device and access point now presents a potential vulnerability. MSPs play a critical role in extending visibility and control across these environments by deploying secure access tools, hardening endpoints, and monitoring traffic remotely.
They also fill strategic gaps for clients who lack in-house expertise, guiding decisions around authentication, identity protection, and policy enforcement. Compliance becomes more complex with remote work, and MSPs help align client systems with HIPAA, PCI, or SOC 2 standards through centralized logging and access controls.
When breaches do occur, MSPs are often first on the scene, responding to incidents and, more importantly, helping prevent them through layered defense and proactive security planning.
Best Practices for Securing Remote Access
As businesses embrace long-term hybrid and remote models, secure access isn’t just about protecting logins, but building a layered, resilient framework that balances convenience with control.
These six best practices offer a roadmap MSPs can use to guide their clients toward more secure, scalable remote operations.
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
No matter how strong a password policy is, credentials can be stolen and often are.
That’s why MFA should be the baseline for any remote access strategy. It adds a second layer of identity verification, like a one-time passcode, authenticator app, or biometric check, which prevents attackers from using stolen credentials alone to breach systems.
MSPs can help enforce MFA across all user access points, from VPNs and cloud platforms to SaaS apps and remote desktops, ensuring even high-risk users like executives and admins are protected. More importantly, MSPs can monitor MFA compliance and identify gaps where users bypass security controls or default to less secure methods.
Employ Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
The rise of remote work has rendered traditional perimeter-based security models ineffective.
In a Zero Trust framework, no user or device is trusted by default, not even inside the network. Instead, access is continuously evaluated based on who the user is, what device they’re using, where they’re located, and what they’re trying to access.
MSPs can help clients transition from legacy VPNs to modern ZTNA solutions that enforce granular, identity-aware access rules. This prevents broad network access and ensures users only interact with the specific applications and data they need. Zero Trust also simplifies access revocation and improves audit readiness, critical benefits for regulated industries.
Secure Endpoint Devices
Remote devices are now the primary interface for business operations, and attackers know it. Unpatched software, lack of encryption, and weak or absent antivirus tools leave these endpoints vulnerable.
MSPs should take a proactive approach by implementing full endpoint protection platforms (EPP) that include antivirus, anti-malware, behavioral monitoring, and automated patch management. Encryption should be enforced to protect data at rest in the event a device is lost or stolen.
MSPs can also deploy mobile device management (MDM) or unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions that allow them to track, lock, or wipe devices remotely, as well as enforce compliance before a device connects to critical systems.
Implement Network Segmentation
Once an attacker gains access to a network, their next move is usually lateral movement, probing for higher privileges, sensitive data, or additional entry points.
Network segmentation limits that movement by creating boundaries between systems, users, and workloads. For remote environments, this means creating segmented access policies based on job role, location, or device type.
MSPs can implement VLANs, micro-segmentation, and identity-based policies that ensure users only see what they’re meant to see. This approach reduces risk, enhances incident containment, and supports compliance efforts where data isolation is required by law or industry regulation.
Conduct Regular Security Assessments and Audits
Remote environments evolve quickly – new tools get adopted, employees come and go, and threat actors develop new techniques.
Regular security assessments help MSPs stay ahead of these shifts. These reviews can include vulnerability scans, access audits, firewall configuration reviews, patch compliance checks, and cloud security posture assessments. More importantly, MSPs can use audit findings to present actionable roadmaps to clients, prioritizing fixes based on risk and business impact.
Regular reporting also helps clients meet audit and regulatory requirements, while demonstrating measurable improvements over time, something boards and insurers increasingly expect.
Conduct Comprehensive Security Awareness Training
Many security incidents still trace back to user errors: clicking on a phishing link, downloading a malicious file, or connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi. Technical defenses can only go so far if users aren’t part of the equation.
MSPs should lead or partner in delivering ongoing security awareness training that’s relevant, interactive, and tailored to remote users. This can include simulated phishing campaigns, secure file-sharing guidance, mobile device hygiene, and alerts on current threat trends.
When done well, training empowers users to act as the first line of defense, not the weakest link.
Take the Lead in Securing Remote Work Today
The shift to remote work has opened new doors for cyber threats, and many businesses aren’t prepared.
MSPs have the chance to step up as trusted security partners by implementing proven practices like MFA, Zero Trust, endpoint protection, and ongoing training.
Help your clients close the gaps, reduce risk, and stay compliant before vulnerabilities turn into costly breaches.
