Assessment of Cybersecurity Risks in Remote Work Arrangements Among Federal Government Employees in Abuja

The normalisation of remote and hybrid work in Nigerian federal agencies following the COVID-19 pandemic has created significant cybersecurity risks related to home network security, endpoint protection, and VPN compliance that require systematic assessment in the FCT workforce context. This study assessed cybersecurity risks associated with remote work arrangements among federal government employees in Abuja who were approved for remote or hybrid work between 2022 and 2024. A descriptive survey was conducted among 200 civil servants across four ministries. The questionnaire assessed home network security, VPN usage compliance, device security configuration, video conferencing security, and data handling during remote work. Results showed that 67.5 percent used personal home routers with default credentials during remote government work. VPN for all remote government system access was used consistently by only 39.0 percent. Work documents were stored on personal cloud storage accounts by 53.5 percent. Secure video conferencing practices (waiting rooms, host-only screen sharing) were followed by 44.5 percent. IT support access during remote work was rated as inadequate by 66.5 percent. The study concludes that remote work cybersecurity risk management in Nigerian federal ministries is inadequate and recommends mandatory VPN enforcement, government-issued endpoint devices for remote workers, a remote work security compliance framework for the civil service, and digital security support desk services for remote-working civil servants in Abuja.

Keywords: remote work security, federal government employees, Abuja, VPN compliance, home network security