According to a new study by SecureAge, 83% of U.S. companies and 86% of U.K. companies adopted new cybersecurity measures to cope with the remote workforce. Companies in Japan have also taken various cybersecurity measures to adapt to the rapidly shifting remote work environment that resulted from COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most fundamentally challenging periods ever for businesses and their employees alike,” said Jerry Ray, COO of SecureAge Technology. “Unfortunately, these day-to-day challenges have been compounded by a new wave of cybersecurity threats which have resulted in a host of additional threats to businesses and workers.”

Many of the surveyed companies stated their establishment adopted new cybersecurity protocols. U.S. and U.K. respondents answered that they were either “very confident” or “somewhat confident” in the protective measures taken against cyberattacks taken by their organization, while the Japanese respondents answered at a majority 43% “neutral” outlook towards the cyberattack protection protocols taken on their end.

Of the surveyed respondents, the U.S. leads with the use of a required two-factor identification authentication process at 34%, the U.K. leads with established VPN use at 43%, and Japan leads with the use of company-provided antivirus software for remote employees at 25%.

As offices open, many companies are investing in new and updated technology to protect from cyberattacks associated with remote work. Of the actions that the three countries are taking, cloud solutions are the most requested method, followed by file-level encryption and then full-disk encryption.

The biggest challenge that companies face across the board typically resulted from issues with technical implementations. Roughly 25% of overall employees felt reluctant about enacting these new cybersecurity procedures. Nonetheless, every company surveyed stated that they were implementing a budget increase devoted strictly towards cybersecurity. The majority stated that they would be investing roughly 11%-25% more than they had previously.

With many companies investing a large sum of money into cybersecurity efforts, such as in training and technology, the pandemic has exposed potential vulnerabilities in the data protection sector of the corporate world.

The study was conducted between July and August 2021 and included 1,000 U.S.-based respondents, 600 U.K.-based respondents, and 300 Japan-based respondents.

Read the full report by SecureAge.