Millions of people are still telecommuting as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and door-closing restrictions. However, antivirus giant Kaspersky warns that only 34% of employees have received instructions on how to secure their personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones while telecommuting.

In a report titled "How COVID-19 Changed the Way People Work," Kaspersky emphasizes the importance of protection and security awareness in small and medium-sized businesses.

A Russian cybersecurity firm found that three out of five (57%) employees in small organizations worked from home during the pandemic and were not given company devices, and that 45% of staff working in all companies did not receive devices.

On the other hand, only one-third (34%) of employees at small businesses said their employer provided IT security requirements to protect their personal devices for telecommuting.

According to Kaspersky, requirements include having users install anti-malware software, using stronger passwords and the best password managers, and downloading operating system updates regularly.

In addition, 35% of small business employees are increasingly storing valuable company information on personal devices and cloud services (25%), making these instructions even more necessary these days.

Andrey Dankevich, senior product marketing manager for B2B product marketing at Kaspersky, said: "SMBs can be in a difficult situation, and locking down Saving their business and employees during a lockdown is a top priority. [So it's no surprise that cybersecurity is an afterthought. However, implementing even basic IT security requirements can reduce the likelihood of malware infection, payment compromise, and loss of business data.