Help Your Employees Work Securely from Home

As we’ve seen from the flood of articles about Zoom and  TikTok not all “trusted” platforms have rigorous enough security to protect individuals from security breaches. And you know what’s even more insidious? Programs and networks that are attached to  business accounts are far more likely to be subject to breaches than personal accounts.

If you are working from home, or if you have employees telecommuting and accessing your servers or cloud depositories from remote locations, here is a three-step checklist that they should be mindful of on an ongoing basis:

1) LOG OUT AT THE END OF THE DAY

Logging out of your remote server, remote desktop program, and/or cloud services can help keep your entire network protected. Your entire system is only as secure as your weakest link and ensuring that all employees log out at the end of the day will help prevent your systems from being subject to cyber assault through inactive hours. Logging out will also create a pattern of usage that will help inform cyber tools as to your regular network usage, helping the system identify irregularities and potential threats.

If you’d like to know more about why this is a valuable step or get information about other cyber security and managed solutions, were here to help >

2) ENABLE MULTI FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a vital security process that requires something you know (your password) and something you have (mobile device app, RSA token, fingerprint, etc.) in order to verify your identity. You have probably experienced this when logging in to your bank account or if you’re using any of a number of different Google products – you may need to both enter a secure password and then confirm a second code that is sent to your mobile device via SMS. This process is done to better protect both the individuals’ user name and password as well as the desired tool.

If you need assistance in enabling multi-factor authentications for your server or cloud resources, we can help. Drop us a line >

3) AVOID WORKING IN ENVIROMENTS YOU DON’T CONTROL

Many cyber criminals work in remote bunkers and shady warehouses, but some seek their prey in broad daylight in coffee shops and restaurants. Employees should never access remote servers or vital company information (or any sensitive information for that matter) from public networks or wifi, even if the networks are password protected. Employees should only access company resources from home, and even then, only when they are in compliance with all company security protocols.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, telecommuting is the new normal. Help your employees (and your employer!) stay safe by following these simple steps, and we’ll all get through this together.