Since the emergence of COVID-19 when businesses were forced to shift to work-from-home policies, we recognized the need for enhanced physical and cybersecurity. Our workspace, regardless of location, needs to remain secure to protect individual and corporate proprietary information no matter the environment. Below are a few tips from Knowledge Services on how to keep a secure workspace and protect yourself and your work — no matter where you are.
Secure Your Calls
To better secure company information, be mindful of your location at all times and make sure phone calls are held privately. Knowledge Services advises you to use headphones when around others while on calls or video conferences to maintain confidentiality. Being aware of who might be hanging around your workspace (contractors, cleaners, etc.) is the first step in achieving privacy and protection.
Secure Your Workspace at All Times
To protect your private company data, Knowledge Services encourages everyone to always lock their workspace when walking away from their desktop. Moreover, many companies also advise their employees to use privacy screens to ensure additional discretion if needed.
Protect Your Data
Although always critical, it is especially important for the transient worker to keep work data and other important files in a secure and safe location provided and approved by the company. Also, understanding a backup schedule that works best for you is ideal, and you’ll want to become diligent with it.
Be Vigilant and Watchful of Phishing Emails
Cyberattacks are on the rise, and cybercriminals are targeting organizations every day. To guard yourself and your employer, be aware of emails containing the following:
- Actions that need to be taken, such as responding, providing credentials, clicking hyperlinks, etc.
- Skeptical subject lines
- Unrecognized email addresses
- Poorly written content
- Suspicious attachments
If you see anything suspicious within suspected phishing emails, report them to your IT team immediately, and do not click on or open anything that might put your company at risk. To prep your team members, your company can also schedule fictitious phishing emails to members of your team to see how they will respond and allow them to understand the dangers of possible attacks.
Warrant a Confident Connection
If you’re having trouble connecting to your company’s network while using company devices, reach out to your team members in IT immediately to see what the problem is. For computers, phones, or any other devices that may connect, always ensure a secure connection. You want to connect to your Virtual Private Network (VPN) to remain under your organization’s security umbrella and receive updates from your IT department. Furthermore, you will want to keep any foreign devices off the network.
Always Use a Robust Password
Using different passwords for all your devices and accounts seems like common sense. However, it’s been reported that 64% of people use the same password for at least some of their online accounts. Ensure that your password is of certain qualifying length, with a wide range of numbers, and special characters. You should also continue to update it throughout the calendar year for maximum security. Your technology team can better specify how often you should be changing your credentials for more security.
Set Up Multi-Factor Authentication
Enabling multi-factor authentication on your accounts is one of the simplest ways of ensuring cybersecurity. Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, ties your online account to two different devices. When attempting to login to your account on one of those devices, you will receive a confirmation message on your second device.
MFA is also extremely helpful in identifying fraudulent attempted logins. For instance, if you receive a notification of an unfamiliar attempted login on another device, you know right away that you need to change that account’s password.
Stay Cyber Secure
At Knowledge Services, we are committed to physical and cybersecurity. We encourage all professionals and companies to always stay alert and watchful of physical space and cyber threats. Especially during this time working from home, it is up to each user to maintain these standard security protocols.
No one wants to be responsible for allowing a virus to run wild through their organization. Knowledge Services wants YOU to think about how you can improve your security practice today. Is there a small task you can start (or stop) doing today that will improve your security? Contact us today to learn more.
