Working from home can be quite liberating, a chance to escape from a busy and noisy office. As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, millions of workers across the world have had to make the rapid transition to remote working. But it isn’t as simple as just taking your laptop home. Want to be as productive and secure as possible working from home? Let us take you through these secure remote working tips that answer the most frequently asked question: Is your internet connection secure to work from home?
Once you’ve set yourself up in a nice, quiet space, you’ll want to ensure you can do the following things. Remote working without a clear-cut security policy brings with it an increased risk of cyber attacks. In a recent survey, it was found that 40 per cent of companies have already reported seeing an increase in cyber attacks as employees start working remotely. It is, therefore, very critical to use a secure internet connection when working from outside your office.
Securing your internet connection
It is vital that when you are working with confidential information that your Wi-Fi is secured. That means enabling a password on your home network. We will be talking about 'how to set-up a secure connection', and also why you should avoid unsecured Wi-Fi networks'.
For maximum protection, please choose WPA2-AES when selecting the security settings on your Wi-Fi router. This makes sure everything you send is encrypted and next to possible to hack.
Turn off network discovery
Your work laptop should be hidden from other computers on your home network, to avoid the possibility of an intrusion.
On Windows 10, navigate to Network and Sharing Center, go to Advanced Sharing Settings, and then Turn Off Network Discovery. While in Network and Sharing Center you also disable file and printer sharing too.
How to secure your home Wi-Fi network when working from home
Change default username and password:
- Wi-Fi providers automatically assign a username and password to the network and hackers can easily find these default passwords online. If they can gain entry to the network, they can change the password to whatever they like, lock the owner out and hijack the network.
- Changing the username and password makes it more difficult for attackers to identify whose Wi-Fi it is and in turn gain entry to the network. Hackers have sophisticated tools to test thousands of possible password and username combinations, so it’s vital to choose a strong password that combines letters, numbers, and special characters to make it more difficult to crack.
Turn on Wireless Network Encryption
- Encryption is one of the most effective ways of safeguarding your network data when working remotely. Encryption works by scrambling your data or the contents of a message so that it cannot be deciphered by hackers.
- The most secure type of encryption to use for your home Wi-Fi network is WPA3. If you have older devices that are up to 10 years old, they may not be compatible with WPA3 so it will be vital to upgrade your home devices for enhanced security and performance.
Use a VPN (a virtual private network)
- A VPN is a network that allows you to communicate over an unsecured, unencrypted network in a private way. A VPN encrypts your data so that a hacker cannot tell what you are doing online or where you are. VPN will also alter your IP address, making it appear that you are using your computer from another location other than your home address. In addition to a desktop, it can also be used on any mobile device such as a laptop, phone or tablet.
Standardized Cloud Services
Many businesses use collaboration software or other cloud productivity apps that were set up by individual departments. These result in multiple apps performing the same basic task across the organisation. For IT administrators already swamped with new remote access headaches, this is far from the best setup. Fortunately, because these services are in the cloud, choosing and migrating to a single service is completely doable even while everyone is working from home. This can be a lengthy process, but it pays dividends by reducing overall management problems, minimizing your attack surface for better security, and even decreasing costs.
Are you ready to work remotely? Book a FREE consultation today. We provide an array of business solutions to help you with the transition to a remote working set up. We are here to help you.
