During the COVID times, remote working became popular around the world and businesses started allowing their employees to work remotely. Even after the covid, most businesses are now still allowing their employees to work remotely, from their homes or elsewhere. Although it is beneficial for both businesses and employees to work remotely, it comes with some cybersecurity risks. Cybersecurity risks are always associated with remote working and hackers are constantly looking to take advantage of these situations.
If you are an employee working remotely, there are certain security mistakes that you should avoid to prevent any damage to your company. Let’s check them out:
Keep Your Computer/Mobile Phone Updated
As an employee working remotely, you should always make sure that your computer or mobile phone is on the latest version of the operating system. By default, most computers and mobile phones are set to download and install OS updates when they are available automatically but some people intentionally turn off this option because they don’t want to be disturbed by software updates while they are doing work.
However, when you are working remotely, you have access to your company’s database and your employer depends on you. If you want to make sure that the integrity of your company’s data is maintained, you should regularly update your computer and mobile phone to avoid any security breaches.
Along with this, ensure that you regularly update your wireless router through 192.168.10.1 or any other default gateway address because sometimes, your router can also provide access to cyber criminals if it has security vulnerabilities.
Only Use Approved Software/Applications
If you are working remotely, you should only use those applications and software products that are approved by your company’s IT team. It may be tempting to download the latest collaboration software in the market but you should always avoid downloading software products and applications that are not approved by your IT team.
Software and applications that are approved by the IT team are tested by them and you should only use those software or applications to avoid causing any mishap to the company’s network.
Enable Advanced Security Settings
All the advanced security settings should be enabled to avoid causing any problems for you or your company. Most web-based applications and cloud-based networks have advanced security settings that can protect you against cybercriminals. Although most of these settings are enabled by default, not all of them are. Therefore, you should make sure that you enable all advanced security settings to protect your employer’s network from hackers and cybercriminals.
If you own a company-provided laptop, these settings would already be enabled but if you are using your own laptop or computer, you should be a responsible employee and check whether these settings are enabled or not. If you are not sure which settings are the right one or where you can find the settings, you can ask your company’s IT team for help who will be able to guide you in configuring all the advanced security settings, from your PTCL‘s router settings to your company’s remote portal settings.
Avoid Opening Links or Attachments In Emails
While working remotely, you will be receiving tons of emails that may be full of links and attachments. Some links and attachments are safe as they are from your employer, manager, or IT team but most of them are malicious and you should be cautious about that. Before you click on any link or file that you receive, you should check the email header, sender email address, and other things to make sure that the email is legit.
Most of the time, hackers will try to get you to click or download the malicious attachment so that they can take over your computer. Hackers will try to make emails look as legitimate as possible. Therefore, always be very cautious when clicking on links or attachments received in the email. Only open those emails that are from your trusted contacts only and no one else other than them.
Ensure The Physical Security Of Your Computer
The last thing that you have to do is make sure that the physical security of your computer or laptop is not breached. When you are not using your computer, make sure that you lock your computer so that no one can access the computer or the files on your computer and it stays protected as it would in any office. This involves taking all important security measures such as setting up a secure login password, locking your computer when unattended, not giving unauthorized access to anyone in your home, etc.
