Working from home can bring a lot of challenges to a business. The number one concern is a business’s security and being able to ensure that it is maintained. Since working form home is prevalent today it is becoming a concern for all business both large and small on how they should protect their data.
In order to safeguard your business while working from home, here are a few tips to implement.
1. Educate Employees Concerning Security
When your staff is home working, it is your responsibility to educate them concerning security. Ensure that they are aware of suspicious and unsolicited notifications, staying away from unsecured internet locations, have internet routers that provide security adequately, and that all home devices are verified.
Making sure staff knows how to detect a phishing email or common social engineering attempts can go a long way in protecting your companies data. We recommend providing some training material and following up with at least annually recaps on common security incidents and how to deal with them.
Besides having your staff fully informed about security, you also need to ensure that you have staff fully capable of handling emergencies. These staff members will be able to discover any breach which may occur and what steps they should take to start your incident response plan.
2. Supply VPN Security
VPN is a great way to send and receive data securely from one server to another and will protect the sender’s location. This tool can make all the difference in maintaining security from home. Having a VPN also provides advanced security that involves:
• Hiding the position of end-user
• Data encryption
• IP concealment
• Protection of companies IT Assets
The majority of big companies incorporate some sort of VPN. However, they need to ensure that there is enough space to handle the amount of staff that will be utilizing the VPN. If you are a small company, then utilizing VPNs through a provider will be the way to go. Most VPN’s should be hosted on premise and not relay though a third party. You will also want to consider if you should allow for Split-tunnel VPN’s.
Today, many providers exist and are able to provide the security you wish to have, but you need to choose wisely and avoid any who offer their VPN for free. Before you make a decision on a VPN, make sure that you complete thorough research on the one you wish to use.
3. Provide Updated Protection
Ensuring that your security is updated can make a big difference when it comes to protecting sensitive data and private information. Installing updated will help protect your systems from known security risks and zero-day attacks. When a security bug is discovered software developers push updates to patch the flaws, that is why it’s essential to install updates to keep your systems secure.
4. Conduct Audits on Logins
All computer access should be audited on a regular basis. It is beneficial for companies to audit login activities to both the computer system and the remote systems such as VPNs. The thing to remember is that you are looking for anomalies. There are many software’s that can automate this for business owners but, it can also be accompanied by just review the logs on a regular basis.
5. Make Sure Passwords are Complex
By having staff utilize a variety of numbers and letters, you are able to create a higher amount of security. It will also prevent unauthorized access without worrying about passwords being guessed. Ensure that your staff implements the same security on all devices that they use. Stress to your staff that they not use the same password twice.
6. Instruct Staff to Update all Work Related Software
Having the most updated software is paramount to ensuring security while working from home. When the newest software version is installed, it will be able to utilize your security guidelines.
7. Have Staff Only Store Data In Its Proper Location
Data is some of the most valued IT assets a business has it is important that staff store data in proper locations. You do not want staff storing data in undisclosed cloud providers just to discover that the provider had a security breach.
When implementing cloud services, make sure that the provider does and says what they offer and that your IT verifies them. If your are protecting data that needs to meet any type of compliance’s you will want to ensure that the provider also follows the rules.
8. Change Passcode for Internet Routers
Although not many staff members will need to change their router passcode, it won’t hurt to update those who do need it.
Your IT department can easily furnish the necessary instructions in order to ensure that all internet routers are secured. Having this done will keep unauthorized intrusion or any interception from an outside source.
In order to pull off a work from home location, you may need to increase internet capabilities and have your bandwidth increased. You can take advantage of this as many internet providers are now offering an extended amount of bandwidth.
9. Require System Backup
Implement a requirement to have all staff conduct a backup periodically and through drives that are external. If your company makes use of an enterprise mobility management or a mobile device management provider, then your drives can be backed up automatically.
10. Forbid any USB
Mandate the fact that USBs are forbidden on all work computers. This will eliminate the possibility of malware being downloaded and causing avoidable havoc. USB’s can be a big unknown when working outside the office and it’s easy for an employee to accidentally plug a device into their computer.
Hi, My name is Josh Giesing. I am the Operations Manager at Computer PRO Unltd. In my free time, I enjoy reading and have a passion for learning.