Businesses have many employees working from home since the beginning of the pandemic which comes with a lot of consequences. Aspects of a business such as system access, bandwidth costs, data repatriation and access to internal IT infrastructure. In simple terms, the databases of the business get accessed remotely but this has caused the data to be at higher risk. Companies cannot have these kinds of risks playing a role in their operations.
Normally the risks involved would only be between the server, internal network and end user machine. The employees who access the server from home introduce more risks such as public networks, local networks and lower grade security systems. Take IT Support London businesses for example, they have had to make the switch to a work-from-home environment and provide more remote services. Many companies have had to switch up their structure to accommodate their staff because the pandemic has called for drastic changes Here are 10 security tips to help reduce security risks while working from home.
Teaching Basic Security Knowledge
Employees working from home need to be trained to have a basic understanding of phishing emails, hazards of public Wi-Fi and the knowledge to create a secure home internet connection.
The number of phishing attacks have increased dramatically since the pandemic has forced many people to work from home. Now more than ever it is imperative for employees to be taught the importance of not falling victim to clickbait.
Any company during this time needs to have an emergency response team for any instance where an employee may fall victim to a cyber attack or any other security breach.
Providing Security Protection
Your company needs to ensure that proper security measures are in place and that the measures installed are always up to date. The security measures could be through the means of virus checkers, firewalls and device encryption. This brings us to the significance of finding the right provider of Managed IT Services London organisations and businesses can use to see to their security needs.
Promoting the use of cloud services
Companies need to protect their employees and that can be done by storing confidential information through cloud services. However, when using a cloud storage service, you need to make certain that they are verified by your security team. Employees that work with critical personal data are at high risk but through cloud storage service they are offered more protection against comprising customers information.
Password Audits
Companies should audit their employee passcodes without demanding their personal details. The security policies put in place should support the measure of passcodes being used to access business services being reset.
Security protocols such as alphanumeric codes and the use of two-factor authentication is vital for any business and at the same time employees should be subject to having strong passcodes across all their devices. All business-related passwords need to be stored securely in case any security breach may occur.
Providing employees with VPN access
Data being sent through core systems by employees consists of critical information that needs to be secured. How can this be done? Business can deploy a VPN which provides security measure such as hiding the user’s IP address, encrypts data transfers during the process and secures the user’s location.
Most businesses have a VPN but what needs to be taken a look at is how many sufficient seats they posses to provide their employees with. If you are a small business owner you might need to consider the use of a VPN provider but specially one that can be trusted. Once a VPN provider is secured employees need to use their services for all business activities.
Mandatory backups
It is so easy to lose important information because you may have forgotten to save it. That is why it is useful to use online backup services. Employees should be encouraged to make use of computers that posses external drives. Automated backups can be done through the use of mobile device management and enterprise mobility management services. This is a great way to ensure that your important documents are managed properly and are protected.
Contingency Plans
Sharing responsibilities between teams is a great way to utilize a contingency plan. For example, when an employee gets sick sometimes other may need access to some of their work but are unable to retrieve it. By sharing tech support, passwords, security management and roles the business can guarantee efficiency no matter what issues occur in the future.
Use of MDM/EMM
Employees have been forced to work from home which at times can be challenging. The line between personal and business can become blurred. These systems allow you to separate the two aspects of your life through better management. It all allows you to have more control over your devices and puts you at less risk of being compromised.