5 Work-From-Home Cybersecurity Tips

1 Keep on Top of Your Company’s Security Guidelines

If you’re uncertain about any security measures or unsure if your equipment is up to date, contact your IT team. If you receive a suspicious email, request or notice unusual activity on your computer, this is also a good time to contact the IT or cybersecurity department. If your company offers a VPN, antivirus software, or other helpful security tools, take advantage of these options and protect your equipment from security breaches.

2 Keep Work Devices and Personal Devices Separate

In the event that your device has a security breach, you don’t want a hacker or virus accessing sensitive information. Keeping all of your devices separate helps to minimize the amount of sensitive data an attacker can access. This is especially important in the healthcare field, as a breached device can potentially expose private patient health data. This measure also helps to keep your family life separate from your professional life. If you use a shared device for work that your family members have access to, this can potentially lead to problems down the road.

3 Make Sure Your Wi-Fi is Secure

By breaching your Wi-Fi network, hackers can potentially gain access to your devices, or use your Wi-Fi network for criminal activity. As a first step, you’ll want to change the default password for your Wi-Fi router to a new, unique password. For greater security, it’s also a good idea to change the wireless network name to something excluding any personal information, like your name or address. Public Wi-Fi signals are notorious for being vulnerable to malicious agents, so it’s always better to work from a secure, strongly protected home Wi-Fi network.

4 Watch Out for Phishing Emails

Phishing emails are a common way scammers compromise company security and information. Usually, a scammer will impersonate an executive or employee and ask for confidential information, such as login information to a work account or bank account. Be on the lookout for fake email addresses, grammar errors, or messages that create pressure or a strong sense of urgency. In a work-from-home situation, employees are even more susceptible to this kind of attack. With more emails and less face-to-face communication, it’s important to be extra vigilant against suspicious requests in your inbox.

 5 Keep Your Devices Locked and Tracked

Automatically locking your device after a certain amount of inactivity is a good safeguard to protect your sensitive files and data. This is important in case your device is stolen or accessed when you aren’t present. In addition to enabling automatic locking, you’ll want to enable location tracking so you can find your device if it’s lost or stolen.