Every time you or an employee works from somewhere other than the office, you might be opening your whole business to attack. The coffee shop, the hotel lobby, the kitchen table at home. Starbucks has long called itself the 'Third Place,' the spot between home and work. It's fine for a coffee. The Wi-Fi is another story.
The public networks at coffee shops and hotels are a playground for attackers.
Criminals love open networks. On one, they can steal data and passwords, slip past your normal security, and quietly install malware. Some go further and set up an 'evil twin' network. They name it something trustworthy like 'hotel guest,' then wait for someone to log on so they can take over the machine.
Your home network isn't automatically safer.
Working from home brings its own holes. Even on a private home network, you and your team almost certainly don't run the firewalls and security you'd have on the company network. And you're not the only one online. Are you sure your kids aren't clicking links or opening files that let someone onto the network? They're rarely as careful as you'd be.
You can have locks on every door and an alarm system on the house, but once a kid who lives there opens the front door, none of it counts. Your network works the same way.
So how do you work from anywhere safely?
You get an IT company to put the right security, systems, and monitoring on these connections. With that in place, even your favorite Third Place can be safe to work from.
Don't just assume you're covered. Ask your IT person to show you documentation of how you're protected on public Wi-Fi, at home, and anywhere else you work. If they can't, bring in an independent third party to check your security and see how your current setup holds up.