Welcome to the present. It looks very different from what life looked like even two weeks ago. However, there are some companies that have not changed anything at all. Companies like InVision, Plex, and Severalnines have been fully distributed for quite some time. These companies are experts in remote work and they should be looked to as highly functioning models.

However, for most, life has changed. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Ford, GM, AT&T, JP Morgan, and many more across various verticals have moved their employees to work from home. So, it falls to us to look at the companies with fully distributed teams to learn. We must emulate their behaviors to remain productive, mirror their home setups to retain a work environment, and keep our daily schedules as consistent as possible.

There are many behaviors that cannot continue as usual. As we are a company that specializes in hyper-realistic SOC team training, this is a subject that is particularly close to our hearts. As we continue to work remotely, especially as cybersecurity teams, there are new norms that we must adapt to that are unique to cyber. Many legacy on-prem systems will drop by the wayside as we make room for software that allow cybersecurity teams to access their tool stack remotely.

Cybersecurity training should, under no conditions, be regarded as something we drop by the wayside. It is as vital a part of your cybersecurity operation as your SIEM and Firewall are. As in many areas of education and life, if you are standing still, the world does not stand still with you. Ensuring your team remains as prepared as possible requires setting aside time to train, even remotely.

Adjusting to a new normal requires training for that adjustment. While many of your software partners had been accessible on-premise, new arrangements must be made. Your team may not be as familiar with the realities of not being able to communicate by speaking out loud. Learning to adjust to an IRC chat tool, use cloud-based applications, and connect to an environment virtually is a paradigm that your team should train for. Training against real-world malware in a remote environment with remotely accessible tools is key to ensuring success while working remotely.

If your training had been scheduled at an outside physical location, a conference, seminar, or in-house you must find an alternative to keep your team up to date with their training. To help facilitate continued training during the duration of this crisis, we are opening our cloud-based Cyberbit Range to companies that want to continue training. We want you to enjoy a complimentary training session so that your team can remain prepared for whatever incidents will come their way. We will ensure your team experiences simulated end-to-end attacks with real malware on virtual enterprise networks as well as practices their technical and soft skills to ensure they are prepared. To experience our cyber range for free click here.

Distance does not mean you have to compromise. Distance does not mean you have to stop training. It means you must adapt to a new normal and we are here to help you navigate this crisis to the best of our ability.