Fraud Awareness and Protection When Working from Anywhere

When you’re bound to the confines of a corporate office space (and firewall), cybersecurity comes with the territory. It becomes less of a given for small business teams and those operating remotely.

There are, of course, ways for companies to secure operations from afar through virtual private networks (VPNs) and company-provided (and regulated) tech. But if this isn’t in the cards for your business currently, stress the importance of fraud awareness and protection among remote employees with these helpful tips.

Be Mindful of Your Network

Looking at survey results from a report by Keep Security, TechRepublic emphasizes that as more companies have shifted towards remote work, cyberattacks have increased as well. Budget constraints, the use of personal devices, and a general lack of security (among other things) have left many businesses scrambling to mitigate risk.

Encourage your employees to remain conscious of the networks they’re connecting to, especially when wireless. Before hopping on a wireless network, employees should:

● Make sure the network is encrypted—ideally with WPA2.

● For at-home wireless, limit the devices that can access the network.

● Change the default password assigned to the router.

● Run software updates for the router regularly.

Follow Basic Cybersecurity Best Practices

As for personal devices — like laptops, cellphones, and tablets — your team should be educated on a handful of well-known best practices. For example, unique passwords should be a given across all logins. Help employees keep track of their credentials and secure shared logins across the team with a tool like LastPass. Multi-factor authentication is another security measure to adopt across devices. As is installing additional protection in the form of antivirus and firewall software. And whenever possible, updates should be set to automatic so that no one has to manually pencil in cybersecurity reminders on the calendar.

Consider a Physical Lock or Protector for Devices

For employees that have to travel regularly or will eventually venture out to the occasional coffee shop, a physical lock might be worth investing in. This Kensington Laptop Carrying Case is portable and lockable with their anti-puncture, SecureTrek Lock Base zipper technology.

Privacy screen protectors, like those from PanzerGlass, add another layer of data security to the mix when working remotely in public. The filter makes the display unviewable to everyone except the user and offers a built-in camera cover as well.

It also never hurts to regularly backup data to either the cloud or a secured external hard drive. That way, should a device ever be stolen or compromised, your team isn’t left completely empty handed and scrambling to recover.