1. Do not forget to have an activated antivirus software
Always remember to educate your employees about the importance of good and comprehensive software for blocking viruses from entering your system and destroying your files. Your employees must have an antivirus installed in their systems to protect their files from any damage. It is also of importance for your organization as it would protect the official documents and files saved on the employee’s system which may be necessary for a project and you cannot afford to get them corrupted or stolen. The antivirus software is constantly running in the background of your system without any interruption to your work like it’s not even there.
As per the sources, it has been seen that on average, about 1.5 billion dollars’ worth of damages has been suffered by the businesses due to cybercrime per year. It is believed that this ratio tends to increase with time as the remote working business creates a more favorable condition for the hackers to steal from them by getting inside their VPNs. Malware, Spyware and DDoS attacks are some types of breaches that have been observed commonly worldwide since businesses have started operating online.
The easiest and widely used solution for this is the antivirus applications that are widely available on the web. These also offer protection against those phishing emails that have a virus attached to them and is activated when the user accesses those emails and opens any link sent through them. Making your employees aware of these antivirus suits would not only help with comprehensive virtual security threats but also keep updating themselves to get them well equipped with the innovative and emerging threats from them.
2. Try to keep other people away from your system
Even if your team is as tech-savvy as they could be, you cannot be certain about their family and other people in their lives. Work from home has a common worry that the employees might be having a common system that might also be accessed by their family members or friends, at times. They could have a younger sibling who might need their devices for some school project, or maybe a mischievous child who wouldn’t miss an opportunity to play with their devices. This is why it is essential to remind your employees to try and keep their systems private and to not allow any other person to have access to their important official data saved on their systems. It is to be stressed that you ask your employees to password protect the official information so no one can have access to this sensitive data.
3. Do not trust public Wi-Fis
Using public Wi-Fi can cause serious threats to your privacy and systems. It is advised to stay away from public WIFI’s while working on sensitive data. Make your employees aware of this basic, yet important concept. In an acute circumstance, if you desperately need to use any Wi-Fi available for the public at large, address these few issues at first- the other systems and people who have access to this network and if any observers can track and monitor your data traffic. The knowledge of the other people who are connected to the same Wi-Fi system as you would protect you in cases where there is no firewall between them and you which would allow them to have access to your systems and data, and thereby might be able to pound away your devices. In the second scenario, if people are monitoring your traffic through the network you have joined, they can easily encrypt your systems and steal your sensitive information.
If you are not able to vouch for these issues, you can use a personal hotspot in such cases where you need to access the web outside of your private network. This would eradicate the worry of being monitored or hacked by unauthorized users. It can be said that this would cost you a huge part of your mobile data, but that is nothing as compared to the threat of being hijacked. Many companies even provide cellular data services to their employees and in such cases, there is no issue in using your 4G or 5G service instead of a public Wi-Fi Network.
4. Consider encrypting your data in emails and your systems
While working remotely, you may need to depend upon emails and other online chat platforms for the exchange of information between teammates. But by doing so, without proper care and caution, you may be putting your sensitive data at risk of being encrypted by an unauthorized person. To protect your data, always encrypt the attachments to avoid any unauthorized person having access to them. Also, make sure that the system you are operating on can encrypt all the stored data to avoid any chances of cyber theft.
5. Consider investing in a DaaS network
The best way of making remote working safe and secure is by providing a system to all the employees from the company’s side. If for some reason, your financial situation does not allow providing a system to all the remote working employees, consider using a Desktop-as-a-service option. A DaaS network or Desktop-as-a-Service is used by many organizations while operating remotely by transforming the employee’s devices, be it their laptops or their tabs into a workstation to allow them to access all the official data, including documents, or any other relevant file that is saved on their organization’s network by carrying it out as a virtual desktop through cloud-based service. This is beneficial because even if the personal data of an employee on their desktop might be stolen or corrupted, the data on the cloud-based virtual system is not affected by it.
6. Using remote access VPN to authenticate a secure connection
Using remote access VPNs your employees can access the stored data and resources even at a distant place subject to the permissions given by them and the company. These safe networks can be accessed with the help of credentials to authenticate the login through the organization’s network. To keep the information between the network safe, these security protocols are a must. These also help to restrict the access of third-party vendors to a limited amount so they need not access the whole network but can get their work done by accessing a particular application. The VPN has two main components- the VPN client software and the Network Access Server (NAS). NAS is how people use the VPN, by connecting to it.
7. Make secure remote working a part of your organizational culture
Security of the data is a major concern for all businesses, and especially those that are operating remotely. Since all of your data and sensitive information is on the web, you need to take serious precautions to preserve it. The technology that you are using does not determine if your data is safe or not; so, people may employ high tech security but would still be at risk of cyber theft. This safety applies to both the physical and technological aspects of your system. To protect your systems from physical damage, ask your employees to make sure that their workstation is a ‘safe space’ where there is no one peeking at your work and sensitive information. For the safety of their software, educating employees about safe working and identifying potential threats to the system, should be a part of your remote work culture. You can use the web filters and block harmful websites and links that the employees can access on the web and warn the employees about it. Keep updating the passwords used by the employees to access the network and ask the employees to generate a safe password that is harder to crack by an unauthorized person outside of the organization.
8. Make use of the modern covers and flaps to protect your webcams
Video Conferences and meetings have become part and parcel of our lives when operating remotely. These require the webcams of the device that you are using and introduces you to the threat of hackers who may obtain access to your webcam without your authorization which can compromise the privacy of the user. This can create serious problems if you have sensitive documents laying near your workstation which can be seen by these hackers through your webcam.
There are two ways to protect yourself from this issue- Firstly, if your webcam can be detached from your device, that is when you are using a webcam that is separate from your system, always remember to unplug it after the end of the meetings. Secondly, if you are using a tablet or a laptop that has an inbuilt webcam, purchase these easily available webcam covers. These small sliding covers, available in different shapes and sizes add a personalized element to your device while protecting your privacy. All you need to do is stick the adhesive side to your device’s webcam and you’re done! Simply slide it open when you are having the meeting and slide it to close it when you are done with it.
9. Advise your employees to keep their firewalls and anti-virus software updated
Firewalls, antimalware and antivirus software protects the users from prospective threats to your system. These should be installed and updated regularly on all your work devices, be it your laptop, tablets or mobile phones. Sometimes the employees might not be as tech-savvy as you need them to be and hence fall prey to these cyber-attacks. Organizations must take necessary steps to protect the privacy of their sensitive information and be ready to assist the employees in technical problems. You may need to employ services from a local technician who is well versed with the software and the platform that your organization uses. Along with a local technical support team, many companies also have the option to wipe away any sensitive information from the devices of the employees if they feel it to be at threat.
10. Keep your system updated
Updating your system is very essential so your device is up to date with all the relevant security patch fixes and you have access to all the new and innovative features. It also helps to surpass those annoying pop-ups that keep asking you to update your device. The majority of the updates are auto-installed without any interruption to the user while he or she is working. But you also have the option to have manual updates or choose when the update must be initiated, so you wake up to a fresh, updated system.
11. Always use the two-factor authentication system and keep your files backed up
You may think that having strong passwords may be enough to protect your data from the vicious users looking for an opportunity to hack your device, but it certainly isn’t! For instance, there is a data break-in in your organization, the credentials of the employees can be easily accessed by hackers. In such cases, the two-factor authentication system comes to the rescue by adding an extra step to the login procedure. This step could be the requirement of a code to be entered which is sent to the user via email or text message or it could also be a fingerprint or face id authentication. Another important thing to mention here is to always keep your files backed up using a cloud-based backup system to protect your data in case things go south!
Keep these few easy but important points in mind while working remotely. It is always better to be prepared for the worst-case scenario; because you never know when your privacy may be at risk!
