Many employees are working from home to self-isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic. And for some employees and contractors the opportunity to work from home may continue long after the effects of the pandemic have faded away. Although avoiding a commute by working remotely can be convenient, there are security issues that need to be addressed to successfully work from home.
Employers should take precautions to avoid having hackers enter their systems and reach company servers through unprotected employee devices. Similarly, home workers need to be aware that they can become the targets of hackers for their personal information as well as their employer’s data. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that home workers review and adopt the following tips to protect their devices and personal information as well as data belonging to employers.
- Keep your anti-virus, anti-malware and other security software up to date.
- Use passwords on all your devices and apps. Make sure the passwords are long, strong and unique: at least 12 characters that are a mix of numbers, symbols and capital and lowercase letters. Consider using a password manager.
- Secure your home router by turning on encryption. WPA2 and WPA3 are the most up-to-date encryption standards to protect information sent over a wireless network.
- Protect your laptop. If you’re using a laptop, make sure it is password-protected, locked and secure. Never leave it unattended in a vehicle or at a public location such as a charging station or coffee shop.
- Follow your employer’s security practices. Even when working from home, follow all of the security practices that you would if you were in the office.
