Five Simple Cybersecurity Tips for Employees Working from Home
The number of employees working from home has skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic. When you work from home, the cybersecurity risk becomes more prevalent. There is a high potential to lose important data when changing from the workplace to remote locations. Following the tips in this article will make your home office devices and data more secure.
Take Advantage of Multi-Factor Authentication and Use Strong Passwords
The first thing a hacker will attack is your passwords. One of the best ways to prevent being hacked is to have a strong password and multi-factor authentication. These passwords must be complex, secure, and unique. It would be best if you had a different password for each device you have, whether it’s a work or a personal piece of equipment. If you have a hard time remembering these passwords, consider getting a password vault app to help you keep track. Updating your passwords now and then dramatically enhances your security.
Multi-factor authentication is another effective way to prevent attacks on your cybersecurity. Multi-factor authentication requires you to type in a code that changes every minute or so. Multi-factor authentication is so strong that it blocks about 99 percent of phishing attacks and around 90 percent of targeted attacks. Multi-factor authentication and strong passwords will make your systems far more secure.
Keep Work and Personal Devices Separate
It may be convenient to access work from personal devices and vice versa, but it’s not recommended. Crossing your personal and work devices may cause problems if a cyber-attack were to occur. If you were to be a victim of a cyber-attack, you want them to have access to as little information as possible.
If you are working on your family computer and are attacked by a hacker, they will gain access to all of the information on that device, whether work or personal. Another reason you should not be working from a personal device is that most times, these devices do not have the same security and antimalware programs that a company device may have. By keeping your work and personal devices separate, you can limit the amount of data to which an attacker has access.
Regularly Update Your Software and Operating Systems
Staying on top of your system and software updates is an excellent practice for upgrading your cybersecurity. Most of the updates you receive for your apps and devices are made to fix security flaws and other cybersecurity threats. You want your devices to be the most up-to-date because the latest releases are usually the most secure ones.
Utilize Antivirus and Antimalware Programs
Antivirus and antimalware programs are the best way to detect any viruses, spyware, trojans, and malware. These antimalware programs should be installed on all your devices, whether work or personal.
Cybersecurity is critical, and most, if not all, companies are worried about it. Before installing any antivirus program, you should talk with your IT department and make sure it’s a trusted tool.
Stay Focused on Safety
Cyber security is not something that you do once. Instead, you need to ensure that you are always vigilant and taking action to protect your systems. By continuously paying attention to security best practices, you can keep your systems safe from all sorts of threats.
