More and more people are starting to work from home, not just because of Covid-19, but on a regular basis. With working from home, or other remote locations comes a great responsibility. The ability to stay safe while online. If you are not in the office, you don’t have some of the basic network protections, like a solid firewall, group policies, synced up antivirus, and other security features your home network does not have. Because of this, I am listing 5 tips for safe remote working.
5 Tips for Safe Remote Working
- Know your surroundings – while videoconferencing, be aware of what information is in view. Do you have a board behind you with sensitive information on it? Make sure information like a password on a sticky note isn’t visible and virtual meeting rooms are locked or encrypted to keep data safer.
- Make sure you are using 2FA – I know I have talked about 2 factor authentication in many other blogs but I can’t stress enough the importance of multi factor authentication. 80% of data breaches are caused by stolen or cracked passwords. Require a stronger credential than just a password to access systems and data.
- Update, update, update! – Patch every computer and every device on a regular basis. Failing to patch or update VPNs, devices, and software means that security might not be up to date. Update everything, every time.
- Watch for Phishing attempts – The people that are trying to fool you are PROFESSIONALS. They have honed their skills over and over. Phishing is up 667% as cybercriminals spoof official-looking documents and sites. Upgrade every staffer’s phishing resistance training.
- Keep your devices out of the office – Do not bring your home laptop and sync it up with the network. Workers using personal devices and transferring files unsafely to them add surprise vulnerabilities. Create and enforce BYOD policies.
Just following these few steps can greatly help you increase your cybersecurity awareness and help keep you safe at home.
