How to avoid cyberattacks when working from home or remotely
After corona, employees got new habbits and are still working from home or remotely several of days a week. In this new remote work situation, we will be trying to stay connected with colleagues using chat applications, shared documents, and through conference calls instead of physical meetings, many are probably not vigilant enough of the risk of cyberattacks.
So, what can we do to remain productive without increasing cybersecurity risk? In this blogpost Head of Security at Admincontrol, Ole Martin Refvik, gives you some tips and tricks on how to avoid cyberattacks when working from home or remotely
Must follow the company´s guidelines
Head of Security at Admincontrol, Ole Martin Refvik, stresses the importance of being careful when working from home or remotely
Here are Ole Martin Refvik`s tips and tricks on how to avoid cyberattacks when wokring from home or remotely.
1. Use VPN
Since you are now likely to work outside of your company office a few days a week, you must ensure that you have a secure connection. The best method is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service that protects the traffic from your computer to your corporate services. Most likely your company provide such a service, so if you don´t have this make sure you get it.
2. Use cloud services approved by your company
Cloud services are a great way of sharing sensitive documents, performing online meetings and virtual collaboration. Since you now need to connect with your colleagues and business partners from a remote location, this is exactly what you need. But keep in mind that the security level of such services can be very different based on the services they provide. Enterprise cloud solutions have much greater security than free solutions. Therefore, always check with your company which cloud services are ok to use according to the security level of your organization.
3. Use your company devices for work-related tasks
Your work devices are usually equipped with additional security solutions and integrated protection that are quality-assured by your IT department. This way your IT department can ensure that the device is updated and protected against the most typical cyber threats. That’s why you should use the device your company has provided to perform your work-related tasks.
4. Do not use your work devices for private matters
As your work device is recommended for work purposes, you should not use it for private stuff. Don´t mix private and work as this might expose your company device and information to greater risk. Moreover, you do not want private information to end up in your company backup’s, as your device most likely is backed up or monitored in some way. It could be a threat to your personal privacy if you use it for private matters.
5. Don´t let others use your work device
Are your kids at home? Or are you sharing apartment with other people? Make sure you lock your device when not using it. Intentions might be good, but others are not meant to access your work device and company information, they may perform activities that could risk infecting the device with malicious software or leak sensitive information.
6. Don´t be tricked by Phishing attacks
Cybercriminals take advantage of the current situation and there have been reports of phishing attacks by cybercriminals pretending to provide information about COVID-19 as a way of luring you to click on links leading to malicious websites. Be attentive and follow only advice from government entities and other trusted parties where you can verify the identity.
Secure Collaboration With Admincontrol
Since you might need to connect with your colleagues and business partners from a remote location the next few weeks, it is important to install safe collaboration tools. Admincontrol offers two different solutions, Board Portal and Data Room, where you can collaborate and share documents securely. Both products also have a built in Secure Messaging module which provides a dedicated channel specifically designed for sharing, discussion and interaction concerning sensitive documents and business critical information.
Would you like to know more about security in Admincontrol?
Read more HERE