Although remote work is not new and existed for some of the employees in select organizations as a flexible practice long before the pandemic erupted, it has become a new normal for many organizations of late. A recent survey by Gartner reveals that about 74% of the surveyed organizations expect at least 5% of their workforce to remain as WFH employees even after the pandemic ends. About 25% of the respondents reveal that 20% of their workforce will remain remote permanently. Indian software services giant, TCS has announced that up to 75% of its global workforce will work from home by 2025. The major reason for this move is that CFOs clearly sense a better way to manage cost, particularly the facility cost which is very significant.

While it is still a bit early to say that this new work environment will bring new type of employee-contracts, policies and procedures, it will definitely pose security and privacy issues for many organizations if they are not properly equipped with necessary infrastructure in place to support the changing environment. In particular, when organizations roll out remote workforce and workers access the organization's data and system online, it increases the risk of cyber security. Unlike company office, home environment has a different physical and digital space where the employee uses his computer and devices to access the organizational systems. Home setups are often infected with malware, made up of compromised hardware, have inadequate endpoint integrity checking and thus remain insecure. Increased data-sharing over the Internet that is full of malicious actors heightens security risks. Hackers can also manipulate Virtual Private Network (VPN) of the organization through the mobile endpoints and home networks to stage attacks. According to a recent report, most of the organizations experience an increase in cyber attacks surrounding a pandemic. There has been a 600% increase in phishing emails since February 2020. World Health Organization (WHO) reports a fivefold dramatic increase in cyber attacks directed at its staff. Consequently, the new work environment necessitates technology researchers and business leaders to innovate new means and measures to mitigate the risks associated with the remote workforce that are likely to continue post-pandemic years.

The first paper, "Threats Introduced by Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) Adoption in an Ethiopian Higher Educational Institution: Solutions to Security and Privacy", by Kibreab Adane, analyzes the security and privacy considerations used by educational institutions of Ethiopia when they decide the strategic adoption of BYOD. The paper, "Development of Smart Agriculture Monitoring System Using IOT", by Raktim Pratihar and Bansari Deb Majumder, proposes an IoT system for irrigation which can increase the agricultural productivity of farmers.

The last paper, "Criteria for Choosing the Right Software Development Life Cycle Method for the Success of Software Project", by Amaefule Angela Adanna and Ogwueleka Francisca Nonyelum, discusses the suitability of SDLC method to achieve success of software projects in an organization.