#WFH Security – Part I

#WFH Security – Part I

When everything went on lockdown in March 2020, we all scrambled to implement temporary practices that would allow us to stay in business. On top of that, we were all adjusting to the work from home life – playing teacher, parent, co-worker, employee, and everything in between.

Now that it has been a year, many of these temporary practices are still in place. Businesses are asking questions on whether or not a hybrid or work from home environment will continue, as well as how long it will.

These are valid questions to be considering; however, there is one question that needs to be added. What do you need to implement for optimal work from home security?

Here are nine things we would consider when implementing a #WFH security plan for you and your business:

1. Create a Policy

First things first, you need a structured policy! This allows you, as well as your employees, to be clear on your expectations on your work devices, as well as the security of the data you are accessing from home.

You policy should include many of the parts we discuss through this Part I, as well as throughout Part II.

2. Watch Out for Phishing

Have you ever gotten an email with a random link congratulating you for being a winner? This, along with many other tactics, is one way that we encounter phishing. According to Barracuda Networks, email scams related to COVID-19 increased by 667% in March 2020 alone. With the presence of COVID and the COVID vaccination, phishing scams have only increased – resulting in more data breaches.

If you are interested in training your team on what they can be looking out for, in terms of phishing, email us at info@macatawatechnologies.com!

3. Consider Your Server

This past year, we have had many individuals ask us if they need to have a physical server or firewall if they are not going to be working in the physical office. This is a great question! The answer depends on how you work, as well as how your business is currently (or wanting to be) set up.

Here are a few questions to consider:

1. Do you have applications that need to be installed on something that everyone in your team or office shares?
2. Do you have data that you need to share that you DO NOT want put in the cloud?
3. How comfortable are you putting your data in the cloud?

4. Think About Your Firewall

One thing you need to know: personal-grade firewalls are not designed to be as secure as business-grade firewalls. Instead, these firewalls are designed to be convenient for you.

The downside to working somewhere that is not the physical office is that you remove one layer of protection – your firewall. In an effort to replace this layer, a VPN is also an option.

5. Personal vs. Corporate Devices

According to Channel Futures citing a Webroot study, there was a 40% surge of unsecure remote desktop machines used from home to access work information between March to September of 2020.

Have you, as a business, defined your personal vs. corporate devices policy? A few things to consider when you do:

1. What will the employee not be able to do on the computer?
2. Who pays for any updates or new hardware for the computer?

*There are many considerations in what to include in this policy; find more of what you need to be thinking about here.

Let’s Connect!

As you continue to navigate doing business in a heavily virtual world, we know that there are many things to consider. Here at Macatawa Technologies, we can help you consider all of these points to help level up your organization’s #WFH security plan.

Be on the lookout for part two, as we discuss a few more considerations!

Contact us at (616) 394-4940 to get started today or email us at sevans@macatawatechnologies.com.