Strengthening Security And Lowering Risks When Working From Home

Working from home has become a widespread business practice for many companies. Employers have benefited from the reduced costs involved, and employees enjoy working in an environment they can control. Of course, there are some advantages and disadvantages that come with working from home. However, most companies believe the pros outweigh the cons and have allowed their team to continue working from home for the foreseeable future.

Naturally, any business leader wants to ensure that the risk of a cyberattack on their company is low, especially with their team working from home. To achieve this, finding ways to strengthen security and lower the risk is necessary. Fortunately, this can be achieved in a selection of ways. Keep reading to find out more.

 

Improve The Passwords

Setting passwords is a simple and effective way to help protect a company and any sensitive information. However, creating a strong password is a must and should be updated regularly. Whilst using the same password for everything makes it easier to remember, it is considered a poor security practice.

As an employer, you should urge your team to create strong passwords for their work computers and any accounts they have connected with the company. Encourage them to create passwords with a unique combination of numbers, symbols and capital letters. Creating a password that combines all these elements helps to increase the safety levels of protecting sensitive information.

 

Spot The Phishing Emails

Along with urging your team to improve their passwords, you should advise them on spot phishing emails. Unfortunately, phishing emails have become a popular way for hackers to access sensitive information from countless companies. These emails often mask themselves as an email from a team member, posing as an individual from the management team. Clicking on the link to one of these emails allows hackers to access sensitive information on their target’s device.

Falling victim to a phishing email could be costly to a company. If private information, such as client data, is leaked, they could face a hefty GDPR penalty. Aside from this penalty, clients might lose faith and trust in the business. This could cause a sales drop, affecting the company’s profit. To avoid this, teach your team how to spot phishing emails. Teaching them this can help to ensure they are more vigilant about what emails they interact with.

 

Invest In External Support

Implementing strategies to strengthen security and lower risks can help to create a solid safety net. This safety net can provide a level of protection for your business to protect it from cybersecurity threats. Understandably, as a business owner, you want to ensure that you have implemented as many measures as possible to keep your business safe. One option is investing in external support.

External support can add an extra layer of protection to your business. Additionally, their expert knowledge and experience in the field could share tips and tricks you might have yet to consider. If you were looking for IT support in London, consider an option like Totality Services. They offer IT support services in London, helping businesses to implement measures to help strengthen security and lower any risks your company could be exposed to.

 

Consider Network Choice

After investing in external support, they might ask about the networks your team work on. When working remotely, your team will use their home internet to access any online information and accounts needed to complete their work. However, some might visit public locations and use the available Wi-Fi to complete their work, just for a change of scenery.

Public networks can sometimes be vulnerable and not secured. This can put your company’s information at risk of attacks. When allowing your team to work from home, encourage them to be mindful of the choice of networks they use. If they need to use public Wi-Fi, you might ask them to limit what information they access. Whilst this can be difficult to enforce, encouraging it could help keep your company safe and reduce the chance of a targeted attack.

 

Remain GDPR Compliant

Of course, it is crucial for companies to remain GDPR compliant, even if the entire team is working from home. Introduced on the 25th of March 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was created with the intention of protecting personal information. Companies must be transparent in their reasoning for storing client information and ensure that they protect it. Failure to do so can be costly, as previously mentioned.

When any new starter joins the business, ensure that you have informed them about how the company remain GDPR compliant. To ensure that they listened and understood, you might conduct a mini test. These presentations should be given to the whole team to help ensure that everyone is on the same page. Above all, it provides peace of mind that you know your team are aware of what they should be doing to remain GDPR compliant.

 

In Summary

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to strengthen your company’s security and reduce the risks of attacks when your team are working remotely. Implementing one or two of the above could help to make a difference. Most of all, it can provide peace of mind that you have put measures in place to help protect your company from possible cyberattacks.

 

Photo credits: Coworking London

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