COVID-19 is affecting businesses nationwide. That’s an obvious understatement! To ensure their safety and to prevent the spread of infection many employers are asking their employees to work from home. Remote work may be quite familiar and comfortable for some but for others it is very foreign. Either way it’s becoming a way of life for many.
Sending employees home can be a big security risk for businesses. Security measures that IT has put in place to secure office technology can be undermined by sending company devices home. Worse, employees who work from their personal family computer can drastically reduce the security of the office network! Here are 5 tips that employers can give their employees to keep things secure in these trying times:
- Use the devices your company gave you. Most workplace devices have most of the security precautions you need in place–if you can just stick to those, you’ll be a lot more secure. Oh, and don’t let people borrow these! (Including your kids and spouse).
- Passwords and second factors. All your devices and accounts, work or personal, should have them if possible. Use a password manager so those passwords can be long and complex. We recommend LastPass as a password manager AND a 2 Factor auth app. At the very least (if it’s all that’s offered) use SMS codes. Regardless, turn on that second factor.
- Encrypt. Your drive and your connection. If for some reason you don’t have your drive encrypted, do that–now. And use a VPN, even at home because your family’s devices may not be 100% secure. If your workplace doesn’t provide VPN, tell them they really should!
- Lock down your browser. Before you start working on sensitive work matters, strip down your extensions to only the ones you absolutely need and are certain you can trust. And look into well-reviewed trustworthy extensions that protect security like AdBlock Plus or uBlock Origin.
- Keep your devices safe. Lock your doors, don’t leave devices in your car, and turn on any “find my device” features.
As a business owner, maybe you’d like to know how to enable a remote workforce on a temporary basis or have a discussion about making this a permanent part of your company culture. Maybe you’re working from home and you need help configuring your home office. Whatever the reason, when you have any questions please reach out to us at your convenience so we can discuss your options.
Contact us here https://itsystemsllc.com/contact/ or give us a call 616-855-0836 x102. We will provide a remote consultation to find out how we can help you!