When you step into your office or cubicle and sit down to work at a company-owned computer, you shouldn’t have to worry much about security. That’s what the IT department is for, right? But these days things are not so simple.
If you’re one of the vast numbers of people who’ve suddenly found themselves working from home, you’re responsible for doing so securely. There are plenty of things you can do to upgrade your work-from-home security, and many are simple to implement.
Secure Your Computer
If you’re new to working from home, chances are good you simply promoted your existing personal computer to be a work computer. For work, though, you need to take security seriously. Maybe you thought, “I’ve got nothing a hacker would want,” and hence skipped antivirus protection? That won’t fly with your boss, so get AV protection right away. If you already have an antivirus, check that it’s fully enabled and up to date.
Speaking of keeping things up to date, now is a good time to double-check that you’ve got your computer set to automatically receive all security updates, especially Windows updates. Each time Microsoft comes out with a patch, the patched vulnerability becomes public knowledge.
Secure Your Network
You may not care if a neighbor mooches off your home Wi-Fi network, but letting strangers into a network that contains your company’s work product is another story. If you’re still using the default login credentials, for shame! Lists of defaults for popular routers abound on the internet. It’s time to change your Wi-Fi password.
Many offices require long-term remote workers to connect to the company network using a corporate virtual private network, or VPN. This makes the remote PC part of the corporate network and gives it access to resources that are only available in-network. It also effectively takes that remote PC out of its own local network, meaning local resources like network printers won’t be available.
Secure Your Communications
In the office, you might walk over to a colleague’s desk with a quick question. The work-from-home equivalent is probably a text message using your personal phone. However, basic SMS text messages have no real protection against interception or interference. You can patch that security hole by getting together with your colleagues and agreeing on a free secure messaging app to use in place of texting. Better yet, make use of any secure business messaging app that your company provides.
As for those video meetings that have almost universally replaced face-to-face meetings, those aren’t necessarily secure. If you’re the organizer, ensuring the meeting is protected against snooping or zoom-bombings your responsibility.
Secure Your Data
Windows is pretty good at keeping other users out of your stuff, and macOS is even better. But neither will stop a determined hacker, a data-stealing Trojan, or a ransomware attack that turns your quarterly reports into gibberish. As an additional layer of protection, keep your work documents in an encrypted vault. Using this type of product, unlocking the vault makes it available like any other folder or drive.
You can move files into and out of it, or edit files directly in the vault. When you close the vault, nobody can get access to those files. If you have a high-end security suite installed, you may already have this technology available.
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