The COVID-19 pandemic has made remote working widespread worldwide. These cybersecurity work from home practices will keep your data secure at all times.
Most companies have shifted to work-from-home setup as part of safety protocols. Moreover, it’s expected that such a setup will remain popular even once the pandemic fades.
Indeed, remote work is convenient and brings many benefits. However, it also exposes both businesses and individuals to a range of cybersecurity risks. Thus, it’s a must that you implement strong cybersecurity work from home practices.
This might pose an extra challenge as there is no IT team that can fully assist you. Hence, you must pay attention more than ever to threats. Following these cybersecurity work from home practices will mitigate most threats quite easily.
Use antivirus and internet security software at home
Investing in a comprehensive antivirus program is one of the most effective security tips. This might cost you a little money but that is nothing compared to the damages a breach brings.
For instance, cybercrimes cost an estimated $1.5 billion per annum in damages. It is likely that such figures will increase as the remote working setup has given hackers more open doors to gain access to sensitive files.
Keep family members away from work devices
Working from home means exposing company computers to young children and other members of employees’ families. Thus, it is crucial to remind your staff to keep their devices safe. This means not allowing their other household members to gain access to their work gadgets.
Furthermore, all work-related devices must be password-protected to ensure that third parties won’t get access to sensitive files.
Use a VPN
Companies must always look for ways to make their VPN more secure. Why? Because using the company’s VPN creates new home office safety ‘back doors’ that hackers could potentially expose.
Many VPNs use a username and password. Yet, consider upgrading to the use of smart cards to strengthen the VPN’s authentication method.
Another way is enhancing the encryption method for VPN access. For instance, you could upgrade from a Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol to a Layer Two Tunnelling Protocol (L2TP).
Yet, it’s still your employees that will decide the fate of your cybersecurity. Thus, it’s essential that everyone regularly updates their employees. Moreover, remind them to use the VPN only when they are at work, switching it off in the evenings, weekends, or using work devices for personal use.
Invest in a sliding webcam cover
Teleconferences and video calls are usually parts of remote working. Unfortunately, hackers can compromise your privacy by easily accessing your webcam without permission. Worse, hackers may view your sensitive documents if they are lying around your physical workspace.
Unplug your webcam when you’re not using it. Meanwhile, take extra measures if your webcam is built-in. It’s impossible to predict when a webcam attack could occur.
Furthermore, you’ll easily find sliding webcam covers online. They are usually easy to install as most come with an adhesive layer that fits around your webcam. Additionally, consider using the “blur background” if your platform has one.
