Lucas Esquivel
CYSE 425W
Policy Analysis Paper 2
In this analysis we are going to look at some of the political implications that must deal with remote access policy. The first big political implication that we can discuss right of the bat is how this affects big tech companies. In this article I read from Automox (Jay Goodman, 7/26/2022) it talks about how there is no doubt that for employees the ability to remotely work is a huge plus in satisfaction and a benefit to quality of life. Back not too long ago, companies used to provide incentives to their employees, benefits of up to $10,000 or more for remote professionals to relocate to their city. Now with the recent explosion of remote work can direct wealth away from the top 15 wealthiest cities in the US to areas with lower cost of living. This latest shift in location can be a big boost to smaller cities or towns and distribute tax wealth out to those smaller areas. This makes sense because in my point of view why would I want to relocate somewhere that has higher tax rates and cost of living when remote work I can work from anywhere and get paid the same? I’d rather stay somewhere that has cheaper living cost standards.
The next political implication that is affected by remote access policy is how it can affect the health of worker’s, especially mental health. This article I read called theHR Director (Paul Rhodes, 3/31/2022) touches up on how working remotely can increase stress, work fatigue, and how burnout can be an even more prevalent risk. While working remote does offer a much higher degree of flexibility, it can also blur the line between work time and relaxation time, making it harder for workers to set boundaries between where work ends, and relaxation time begins. A survey done by The Nuffield states that 36% of workers feel an increased pressure when working remote to immediately respond quickly and be present on their computers all day. I can attest to this myself as I am also a remote worker. There are some days I second guess whether I should log off at 5PM or stay an extra 30 minutes just to see if anybody emails me about something as well as the respond quickly thing, it does raise my anxiety somedays. Another issue they tackle on is increased loneliness and isolation. Instead of being at the office with your peers you are now home alone, which over a long period of time can affect how people communicate or act in a public setting. It’s also concerning to companies because as they usually use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to connect with their employees and host meetings, it’s the lack of ability to connect with workers outside those mediums that concerns them most. Luckily from a personal point of view I’m a social person and like to go out after work and do things with friends and attend social events. Remote work sounds good from the outside, but we will have to see what the long-term health effects are and how that can affect society in the future.
The last political implication I’m going to talk about is on remote access policy vulnerabilities. According to an article by Tech Target (Mary Pratt, 8/31/2022) remote work during COVID-19 drove a 238% increase on cyber-attacks. Remote work significantly increases the potential attacks that must be protected. Some risks that present themselves when it comes to remote working is employee work habits, security skills shortage, lack of communication with organization, and expanded attack surfaces. There is less oversight now by security staffs because remote workers don’t have cybersecurity teams watching on what is going on over their home networks. Employees also can be susceptible to phishing attacks as they have increased dramatically over the last couple of years. Employees may also be using unsecured networks to connect remotely to their work environments. For instance, since people can work remotely what is stopping someone from remotely connecting in from inside a McDonalds network? Some random unsecure network like this one may already be filled with viruses and malware that, on top of the most likely bad connection from a McDonald’s, it can also lead to the company’s network becoming infiltrated with malware.
These are a few of the political implications that can occur because of remote access policy. Overall, I believe having the ability to remotely connect to your company network from the comfort of your own home is a major benefit for various reasons, it also has a lot of implications that we need to be aware off.