7 Cyber Security Tips for Your Home Office

At the office, most of us don’t think about security risk, but when working from home, it’s important that employees and employers understand the security risks of working remotely. With so many of us working from home due to Covid-19, the home office has become a major target for cybercrime. By incorporating cyber security best practices, your home office can be more secure.

1. Follow Your Company’s Cyber Security Best Practices for Remote Work

This may seem like an obvious tip, but many employees aren’t yet used to thinking of “home” as “work”, and security practices they wouldn’t think twice about implementing in the office don’t quite seem to make it home automatically. By this point, most companies have developed a remote work policy with their cyber security best practices. Identify it, understand it, and use it.

2. Use the Latest Security Technology

Firewalls, antivirus, and anti-malware software are important in keeping your technology secure. Make sure that any device you are using for work has this software installed. Your company may have a subscription they want to use on your work devices.

3. Don’t Ignore Security Updates

It’s very easy to keep clicking “update later”, but security updates are crucial to maintaining your cyber security. Cybercrime is endlessly evolving, and you need to make sure that you are doing your best to keep up with it. Set up automatic updates and patches for your software and operating systems and make sure those updates are happening.

4. Check Your Network

If you are lucky enough to get “out of the office”, be very wary of public WiFi. If you have to connect in public, use a private VPN if possible, and definitely avoid doing any sensitive or financial work. At home, make sure your network is secure. Make sure your home network is password protected on all devices, and make sure you’ve changed from the default password. Don’t write the passwords down or share them with anyone. If you have a lot of visitors in your home, consider setting up a separate network to use for work.

5. Be Smart About Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are rising right now. Before you click on any links in email, messages, and social media. Look at the link (by either hovering over it or copying it) before clicking it. If there are misspellings, a link that doesn’t match the text, or anything else that seems suspicious, don’t click. Look at unsolicited emails and texts very carefully and critically.

6. Be Wary of Apps

When using your work devices, use apps very sparingly. Reduce your risk by installing only what is absolutely necessary, and remove any apps that you don’t need on your work device. Downloading apps indiscriminately can put these devices – and the data on them – at risk.

7. Backup Your Important Data

If something does happen, you want to make sure you can get your files back. Regularly back up your data, so that if you are a victim of a cybercrime, malware, ransomware, or anything else, you can recover your files without trouble.

With some effort, your home office can become much more cyber secure. Your company will appreciate the effort to keep their data safe, even while you aren’t working in the same office. Best practices for data security also involve partnering with a data destruction company that has the ability to destroy old electronic devices as well as securely shredding physical data. Just because we are working from home more doesn’t mean the need for secure paper shredding and data destruction stops. AccuShred provides peace of mind to our clients with a variety of expert data protection services. Contact us today to learn more.