It looks like we will be facing another lockdown. Which means more time spent working at home away from the office. The current pandemic has introduced us to remote working. But have we managed to make it a safe and secure environment? Before the pandemic would we happily have our laptops out in our local coffee shops working using the local Wi-FI? Of, course not so we have to make sure that we apply the same rules when remote working from home.

Before we come to the big elephant in the room that nobody is discussing. We should be making sure that we heed the following:

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has been very divisive but now it suddenly has no longer become an issue. As our home computers are used for work purposes. Businesses have to realise that employees who have been using desktops in the office may now be using whatever computer they have at home. This could be the family desktop or their own personal laptop. Which we all know will never be as secure as the desktops used in the office. The easiest way to fix this is to supply all your staff with laptops. These laptops will have been setup for use in a work environment. So, they will be as secure as any computer that you might use in your office.

If you are using your home computer or personal laptop. Make sure that you have anti-virus software installed and that it is up to date. If more than one person is using the computer that you are using. Make sure that each user has their own profile set up on the computer. This ensures that nobody else using the computer can access any of your work files, any cloud software you are using or access your office network.

Any smart speakers such as Amazon Echo, or Google Nest must not be in any home offices. They could be listening to any virtual meetings that you are partaking in. In fact, some law firms and local councils have banned virtual meetings taking place in rooms that have smart speakers.

The elephant in the room that was alluded to earlier is similar to BYOD in that you are using something not provided by your job. In this case its BYON (Bring Your Own Network). This is where you are using your home broadband and modem/router to do your remote working. If you were to use that setup in a proper working environment, it would not be acceptable. The default password for your modem/router settings has probably not been changed. There is also a high probability that you don’t have a firewall setup. A firewall will block out unwanted traffic and emails including phishing ones. 

IoT devices in your home such as smart lights or a smart fridge are another security headache. As it's possible to hack them via your broadband connection. So please make sure that your BYON and any IoT devices are as secure as possible. Have your IT department or Managed Service provider draw up a checklist that all your remote working employees must comply with, this will ensure that your employees are working in a safer environment. 

iPing provides managed services and IT services. We can help provide you with an overview of your current setup, and if you are implementing proper remote working procedures. So, if you need some help with the above please contact us or give us a call on 01 5241350.