Cyber Hygiene at Home

Many workers in the U.S. are calling home their office for the next several weeks as the Coronavirus spreads. If working from home is part of your company’s plan, the time is now to think about protecting devices you or your staff will use in their home.

Enter cyber hygiene.

We recommend arming your employees with the basics of work-from-home security. These include:

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  • Remote workers should have access to a virtual private network (VPN)

  • Two-factor or multi-factor authentication should be enabled for all devices and accounts

  • Advise employees to secure their at-home Internet connection and turn off and unplug work devices when not in use

  • Alert employees to possible email scams and never click on links, especially those related to COVID-19 they may receive unsolicted

  • Remain up-to-date on all security patches

  • Don’t mix work and personal devices

COVID-19 PHISHING

It’s very important during this time to stress to your team not to overlook the importance of watching what emails are opened and what links are clicked. Be very wary of opening emails with information regarding COVID-19 as attackers are using this as an easy-in since it’s such a hot topic. Go one step further and encourage staff to only get their news from trusted sources such as the television, radio or legitimate news websites. There is no reason to read an email or click on a link regarding this topic no matter how tempting it may seem. There is an excess of information available elsewhere.

The last thing you need during a pandemic is backlash over a data breach or worse, ransomware.

I.T.Deidre Frith