Security Tips For Work From Home Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

by John Sanderson
Security Tips For Work From Home Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Starting from the year 2020, it is not only remarkable for the novel coronavirus but also changed the whole workspace. Before that year People who were used to working in the office are now turned into work from home. With this, work from home security factor is rising as a necessary part. Lockdown and social distancing make those people and their work partially paralyze. Though we have a little comfort in remote work, there are also have cybersecurity risks of working from home. Employers’ daily routine and their work processes all are going online, due to this pandemic. There have many employees who were not so experienced in working remotely and were also unaware of the cybersecurity risks of working from home.

Impact Of Coronavirus On Work Culture And Employees 

Now we willbe going to discuss the Impact of coronavirus on work culture and employees. Read the following points carefully to know things properly:

  • PSR – Personal Social Responsibility which helps us to fight coronavirus. The very first step taken by the government (PSR) was crucial for humankind. From home to the workplace everywhere it helps us for being safe and work easily. 
  • After-effects of Covid-19 – After the outbreak of the coronavirus, most are the companies and employees had to face many distinct kinds of problems. Likely all industries were gone through a huge loss all over the world. Some companies were shut down, many employees lost their job. But now the economical era is in a stable condition. And after getting the feature of work from and so many facilities, employees of every company can make the financial change. Which is a good step to increase the financial growth of every company.
  • Welcome to some new hiring process– Hire a man or recruiting an employee for the company is not an effortless process. It takes lots of human effort with many good hiring skills. Going through with the resumes and then only selecting the correct candidates is an exceptionally lengthy process. But nowadays we get another better option, which is freelancing. You can find any type of freelancer in different job portals. They are also available for contractual work. By where company’s Hr do not have to take so much pressure and they can easily find the best part-time employees for their company by searching them from their home. And by the freelancing process, many skilled full peoples get their ideal job.
  • The mental and physical fitness of workers– The environment where employees were used to working is also important. In this pandemic situation, some employees were afraid to work with their other co-employees. Few were suffering from this disease and could not be able to continue in the company. ALL those circumstances can be made anyone mentally fired. Though work from Home makes the employees happy. Now they can work without any mental pressure. And those who were positive can also work from home.

Top Data Security Challenges With Remote Working On COVID-19

Covid 19 leads us to a situation that we never get before. Here you cannotcontact anyone physically, only it is happening virtually. Also, we are doing our work in the office through work from home which is also challenging. In that case, work from home security is the main problem. We always keep in mind that there must no cybersecurity risks of working from home about the data. So, we can follow some security tips to protect our data, those are:

  • Avoid connecting with unknown email or contact information. They can easily hack your device and access your personal information. Especially if we are using some unknown apps which are giving us continuous notifications or give sudden pops up, they are quite harmful. Also, if you are getting any spam calls or messages then that can also create a risk to the security of your stored data.
  • Also tried to use an SSL certified link or website. Because it assures you of security. It does not access your personal stored information. But if you are using any unknown link or website then hackers can easily be rich to you by that site and hamper the security of your data.
  • Always be careful about the device, which you are using for your work. Because we sometimes neglect the update, antivirus issue. It can create a serious impact on your work. Unpatched software or antivirus gives the hackers a chance to access your data or give your device a virus attack. It can create several problems like deleting or losing your sensitive data.
  • Stay connected with your colleagues virtually while doing work from home. Because staying connected with them will help you to get an update about the data and work. So, you will easily understand if your data is hacked or attacked by someone or if it is at risk. You should also keep in mind that your conversation is transferring under a protected network. Beware of using free or unknown network sources because that is not secure enough.
  • Share your information with employees through an encrypted link. If do not do that then you can easily find the risk of data stolen or loose or attack while sharing with clients or employees. There are various safe and secure tools where you can store your data like dropbox, one drive and many more.

Security Tips For Work Fromhome Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Use protected network

During the time of COVID 19 when all of us doing work from home, the most important thing about that is which type of network we are using. We must be careful about the type of network. As it is a matter of security then which network, we are using through Wi-Fi or mobile network must be private. Because using any public or unknown network source may hack the information. So that would create some security issues. Mainly when you are travelling and have some work to do especially at that time you may come across some free or unknown Wi-Fi. If you do not have much information about the source of the network or the network does not have SSL certificate, then better you can avoid that.

Ensure the security of data

You must be very sure that which information or data you have stored on your device while working from home are secure. You must check all the data twice before storing it. If any sensitive data get lost due to technical issues or functional problem, then that can create a big problem. So also, must ensure the security of data about it. You can also install any security application that would help you to detect the problem and give you security with a solution. For data security, when you buy SSL certificates for the websites, you can give a smooth and secure user experience to users.

Use a particular device for working

During the time of work from home, the employees do common mistakes. That is, they use the same PC or laptop for their office work which they are using to store their personal information or their daily life. Most people do not use that much protection for the device which they use personally. But when you are using any device for your office work then it must have that security protection for those data or information. So, it is better to use a particular laptop or pc that has pre-installed functions for giving proper security.

Use multilayer security

When one is doing work from home digitally, they must store the document carefully. That their information of work would be safe and protected. So, one has to create multilayer security like a six-digit password, strong screen lock or something else. In this way, information about your work will not be easy to access. Whenever anyone will want to steal or copy your data they will not succeed. That will make your data protected.

Use VPN

Using Virtual Protected Network (VPN) prevents the cybersecurity risk of working from home. The network is the bridge between giving and receiving data. You may share some personal data sensitive information with the receiver through this virtual tunnel So it always must be secure and free of any risk. VPN will give the assurance of security while you are working from home.

Use updated OS

OS (Operating System) is one of the main things about your device. When you are using the updated latest operating in your PC or laptop for doing your office work you are going to get some benefits. Old OS were vulnerable to hackers that would harm your data or personal information. But updated OS will give your data more secure and prevent the cybersecurity risk of working from home. Using updated OS will give you unique features and excellent speed that will make your work from home experience better. Especially an IT worker or an IT expert can enjoy or gather the best experience while using an updated Operating System (OS) on their device.

Update antivirus

Antivirus gives your device secure protection. This is also one of the most important things of having security to the data or information during the time of doing work from home. Updated antivirus gives the best protection to the sensitive data or information which is stored on your device. It also helps to make your device faster along with the best virus protection. You are going to get protection from unwanted cyber threats after connecting your device with others or to the internet. Because antivirus also gives quick scanning for protection. Antivirus also prevent data theft to give you more security.

Beware of fraud

We all know that there are various applications or notification giving features in our devices amid the Covid-19 lockdown. But most of those notifications are spam and can infect your PC or laptop with the virus. That can harm your data or information. It can also make your information loss from your device. SO, using proper updated OS and antivirus will help to detect them and block them before doing any harm.

Use authentic URL 

We came across various URLs while doing work from home amid covid 19 lockdown. Every link is always not safe or protected. They can create various harm lifetimes accessing your stored personal information that is stored in the device, accessing your professional accounts, stealing your work-related data, mack a quick back. So, you must be careful and use an authentic URL. Especially those URL that has an HTTPS can give security to your work.

Get backup

When you are doing work from home all your information is transferred digitally through the network. There is always a risk to delete, losing, stealing or hack of those data. In that case, a backup solution can make your work easy. You may store a copy of data in the backup of your device. So, you can easily recover it if you are facing any problem during the time of working. It does not need any cost;it will give you ease to manage and recover data with security.

Avoid using external USB

External USB like cords, Pen drive and Bluetooth have various disadvantages. They can drain the battery of your device. It also harms the security of transferring or storing data. It can also make your device slow. Hackers can easily hack or harm your personal data through this technique as this is easy to access and connect with various devices. So, it is always better to avoid using external USB or turn off Bluetooth if it is not necessary to protect your data.

Conclusion

Remote work or Workfrom Home is quite beneficial for employees. They can easily work from anywhere. There is no serious restriction on the work. But these things are going to be better if you ensure that your stored data about the work is also protected and secure. An employee must be overly concerned about the security of data while doing work from home. So, they must follow all the mentioned steps carefully and do their work with complete ease and shut the door to hackers.

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