The Future of Zero Trust and SASE is Now! Watch on-demand

close
close
  • Why Netskope chevron

    Changing the way networking and security work together.

  • Our Customers chevron

    Netskope serves more than 3,000 customers worldwide including more than 25 of the Fortune 100

  • Our Partners chevron

    We partner with security leaders to help you secure your journey to the cloud.

Highest in Execution. Furthest in Vision.

Netskope recognized as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Service Edge.

Get the report
Netskope recognized as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Service Edge.
We help our customers to be Ready for Anything

See our customers
Woman smiling with glasses looking out window
Netskope’s partner-centric go-to-market strategy enables our partners to maximize their growth and profitability while transforming enterprise security.

Learn about Netskope Partners
Group of diverse young professionals smiling
Your Network of Tomorrow

Plan your path toward a faster, more secure, and more resilient network designed for the applications and users that you support.

Get the white paper
Your Network of Tomorrow
Introducing the Netskope One Platform

Netskope One is a cloud-native platform that offers converged security and networking services to enable your SASE and zero trust transformation.

Learn about Netskope One
Abstract with blue lighting
Embrace a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture

Netskope NewEdge is the world’s largest, highest-performing security private cloud and provides customers with unparalleled service coverage, performance and resilience.

Learn about NewEdge
NewEdge
Netskope Cloud Exchange

The Netskope Cloud Exchange (CE) provides customers with powerful integration tools to leverage investments across their security posture.

Learn about Cloud Exchange
Netskope video
The platform of the future is Netskope

Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Cloud Firewall, Next Generation Secure Web Gateway (SWG), and Private Access for ZTNA built natively into a single solution to help every business on its journey to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture.

Go to Products Overview
Netskope video
Next Gen SASE Branch is hybrid — connected, secured, and automated

Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch converges Context-Aware SASE Fabric, Zero-Trust Hybrid Security, and SkopeAI-powered Cloud Orchestrator into a unified cloud offering, ushering in a fully modernized branch experience for the borderless enterprise.

Learn about Next Gen SASE Branch
People at the open space office
Designing a SASE Architecture For Dummies

Get your complimentary copy of the only guide to SASE design you’ll ever need.

Get the eBook
Make the move to market-leading cloud security services with minimal latency and high reliability.

Learn about NewEdge
Lighted highway through mountainside switchbacks
Safely enable the use of generative AI applications with application access control, real-time user coaching, and best-in-class data protection.

Learn how we secure generative AI use
Safely Enable ChatGPT and Generative AI
Zero trust solutions for SSE and SASE deployments

Learn about Zero Trust
Boat driving through open sea
Netskope achieves FedRAMP High Authorization

Choose Netskope GovCloud to accelerate your agency’s transformation.

Learn about Netskope GovCloud
Netskope GovCloud
  • Resources chevron

    Learn more about how Netskope can help you secure your journey to the cloud.

  • Blog chevron

    Learn how Netskope enables security and networking transformation through security service edge (SSE)

  • Events and Workshops chevron

    Stay ahead of the latest security trends and connect with your peers.

  • Security Defined chevron

    Everything you need to know in our cybersecurity encyclopedia.

Security Visionaries Podcast

Elections, Disinformation, and Security
This episode takes a look at aspects of election security around voter registration and physical controls at polling places.

Play the podcast
Blog: Elections, Disinformation, and Security
Latest Blogs

Read how Netskope can enable the Zero Trust and SASE journey through security service edge (SSE) capabilities.

Read the blog
Sunrise and cloudy sky
SASE Week 2023: Your SASE journey starts now!

Replay sessions from the fourth annual SASE Week.

Explore sessions
SASE Week 2023
What is Security Service Edge?

Explore the security side of SASE, the future of network and protection in the cloud.

Learn about Security Service Edge
Four-way roundabout
  • Company chevron

    We help you stay ahead of cloud, data, and network security challenges.

  • Leadership chevron

    Our leadership team is fiercely committed to doing everything it takes to make our customers successful.

  • Customer Solutions chevron

    We are here for you and with you every step of the way, ensuring your success with Netskope.

  • Training and Certification chevron

    Netskope training will help you become a cloud security expert.

Supporting sustainability through data security

Netskope is proud to participate in Vision 2045: an initiative aimed to raise awareness on private industry’s role in sustainability.

Find out more
Supporting Sustainability Through Data Security
Thinkers, builders, dreamers, innovators. Together, we deliver cutting-edge cloud security solutions to help our customers protect their data and people.

Meet our team
Group of hikers scaling a snowy mountain
Netskope’s talented and experienced Professional Services team provides a prescriptive approach to your successful implementation.

Learn about Professional Services
Netskope Professional Services
Secure your digital transformation journey and make the most of your cloud, web, and private applications with Netskope training.

Learn about Training and Certifications
Group of young professionals working

Remote Work Increasing Exponentially Due to COVID-19

Mar 16 2020

As governments and organizations take steps to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, we at Netskope Threat Labs have been tracking the effects of these measures. We have seen an exponential growth in the number of remote workers over the past two weeks as “social distancing” measures have been enacted throughout North America. This blog post provides an analysis of the last six months of use of our platform from North America.

Remote work trends

Organizations, governments, and communities around the world are increasingly enacting social distancing measures to control the spread of COVID-19 (Netskope included). The net effect of these measures is that the number of people working remotely and directly accessing the Internet and cloud apps and services is increasing exponentially.

We approximate the percentage of remote workers using a measure we refer to as user dispersion: the ratio of the number of distinct globally routable IP addresses from which users are working to the total number of users. If all users are on the same network (e.g., they are in the same office or or connected to the same VPN), this ratio approaches zero. If all users work remotely from different locations and don’t use a VPN, this ratio approaches 1. Below, we show the trend of this ratio over the past six months, excluding weekends. The average remote work percentage on weekends has held steady at 43% for the past six months.

The chart shows that remote work increased gradually for the first 8 weeks of 2020 after the virus was first reported. It has been increasing at an exponential rate in the past two weeks, as companies, beginning with Amazon and Microsoft, have been explicitly encouraging employees to work from home, an important social distancing measure. 

The chart also shows a few earlier spikes, which correspond to major US holidays:

  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas
  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Presidents’ Day

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, 27% of users worked remotely on the average weekday. For the week ending on March 6, the average was 30%, with a Friday peak at 32%. For the week ending on March 13, the average increased to 35%, with a Friday peak at 42%. In other words, the percentage of users working remotely has increased by 15 percentage points since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Friday’s peak of 42% is just 1 percentage point behind the average weekend remote work percentage, and higher than any of the holidays in the past six months. Additionally, the total number of remote workers is the highest we have ever observed. On weekends and holidays, the total number of active users is approximately ⅓ that of an average weekday. This means that on Friday, we saw three-times as many remote workers as we typically see on a weekend or holiday.

Update 3/17

Remote work continues to increase. On Monday, March 16, more than half of all users worked remotely, an increase of more than 8 percentage points since Friday, March. 13.

Update 3/18

On Tuesday, March 17, remote work went up another 5 percentage points to 55%.

Update 3/19

On Wednesday, March 18, remote work went up another 3 percentage points to 58%. We expect remote work to level out around 60% for the week. Currently, more than twice as many people are working remotely in North America compared to last year’s average. As the rate of growth slows, so too will our updates to this post. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if we see any significant changes.

Update 3/24

The remote work percentage maxed out last week on Friday, March 20, just above 60%, as projected.  Monday, March 23, saw a 3 point jump as more social distancing measures went into effect over the weekend. Given recent trends, we project that remote work will increase this week to around 66%.

Update 3/31

Throughout the week ending on Friday, March 27, the remote work percentage remained unchanged. Wednesday, March 25 was the first day since February 25 that we did not observe a day-over-day increase in remote work. Monday, March 30 saw a 1.4 point increase from the previous week’s average. We expect remote work to continue to remain around ⅔ throughout the month of April.

Netskope Threat Labs will continue to monitor these trends in how user’s work patterns change as even more social distancing measures go into effect this week. Stay tuned.

Update 5/12

Since the beginning of April, the percentage of users working remotely has held constant, with approximately two-thirds of users in North America working remotely. Stay tuned for updates in how this number changes as some regions begin to relax their social distancing measures.

author image
Ray Canzanese
Ray is the Director of Netskope Threat Labs, which specializes in cloud-focused threat research. His background is in software anti-tamper, malware detection and classification, cloud security, sequential detection, and machine learning.

Stay informed!

Subscribe for the latest from the Netskope Blog