Best practices for remote work cybersecurity

Whenever your people are working remotely, they still have to be vigilant about protecting sensitive financial data from different kinds of digital attacks.

To ensure staffers doing remote work don’t unwittingly make your organization vulnerable to hackers, here are some strategies from tech experts.

Remote work safeguards

Prevent data leaks with these steps:

• Require employees working remotely to log on to a company virtual private network (VPN). A VPN conceals a user’s location and IP address, and encrypts online activity.
• Encourage the use of secure password management tools. Examples include 1Password and LastPass.
• Train employees to think before they click. Before clicking on a link, Finance pros should ask themselves: “Do I know this person?” and “Is this link going to take me to an unknown site?”
• Establish a routine to update employees’ systems. System updates often have security patches that better protect your data.
• Encourage using factually incorrect answers to security questions. Answers to questions like “What high school did you go to?” can easily be looked up online. Instead of using the correct security answers, staff can create random false answers so others can’t easily guess them.
• Establish rules about using off-site Wi-Fi networks. Public Wi-Fi is a security risk because confidential data can be intercepted. When doing any work online in coffee shops, restaurants or hotels, it’s best to use a personal hotspot or portable Wi-Fi.
• Raise awareness about protecting your screens. When working while traveling or in a public space, it’s easy to forget that others around you can see what you’re doing on your computer. As a result, someone can steal data just by looking over your shoulder. A privacy screen is an effective solution.  

With hybrid work environments becoming the accepted norm, your company may want to consider appointing a remote work officer to be in charge of implementing and monitoring these best practices.