The digital transformation, driven by many factors, has allowed more and more people to work from home, however, many people are unaware of the threats that this can bring to them or their companies.
Many companies have invested a great deal of money in training and equipment to prevent breaches of their systems, but much of this investment only works if people work on premises.
But what about their remote employees?
They are not protected by the measures they take in their physical offices, making them easier victims for attackers.
If you are Work From Home (WFH), I’ll talk about cybersecurity risks and how they can affect you and your company.
The biggest security risk: the fine line between work and personal life
Don’t worry! I’ll not talk about your schedule or time management; I’m sure you have access to great information… I’ll talk about devices.
We usually use our personal devices, such as laptops, tablets, or phones, when working from home.
If we don’t take reasonable cybersecurity risk control, external agents could access our data and steal all our personal information.
This does not happen in the case of face-to-face jobs, since here you use the equipment provided by the companies.
Hopefully, if someone tries to hack the system, controls will be activated and prevent security breaches.
And, if the breach happens, your personal data will be saved because you don’t keep it on your work equipment.
Let’s look at some of the most common cybersecurity risks you may face.
Power Losses
When you work from home, you are more prone to suffer a power outage, resulting in loss of information or even damage to equipment. Companies have a more controlled environment for this, even including a UPS system to safeguard themselves.
Phishing
In 2020 there was a significant increase in the number of people who reported having suffered from this scam. It’s simple: attackers impersonate an organization to gain your trust and get you to reveal your data.
For example, they could make you believe that your bosses are writing to you to ask you for a password. Or that they are employees of a bank and need your data to perform some action.
Phishing is one of the most significant cybersecurity risks yet one of the easiest to avoid.
Just pay close attention and don’t trust everything you see and read online. Also, keep in mind that rarely will the staff of any site contact you and ask for your details.
Identity Theft
If outsiders gain access to your network, they can obtain your data and impersonate you.
And this is not only for organizations such as banks and companies but also for other people.
Many have ended up incriminated in phishing and discovered that it was someone else who had stolen their information.
How to Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks at Work from Home
When Working from home online security depends on ourselves.
Although you don’t have to be a professional to at least be able to defend yourself from the basics, here are some recommendations:
If possible, don’t use your personal devices for work
Some companies give their employees laptops that already have everything they need to do their job. When working from home, they work from this equipment and do not need to use their own.
Try to work for a company that does this or buy yourself another computer exclusively for work.
You can never check an email address too many times.
When writing to you from an external address, look closely at the email address. It may sound ridiculous, but this is one of the best ways to combat cybersecurity risks.
A small detail such as a different letter could make you realize that you face possible phishing.
Of course, there will be cases that will be impossible to recognize, but it does not hurt to try.
The lowercase “L” and the capital “i” looks precisely the same in digital media, and it is something that these people usually take advantage of a lot.
Control access to important documents
Having information leaked or altered by an outsider is another significant cybersecurity risk.
A simple way to prevent this is to control who can view and edit the most important documents.
Almost all text editors have the option to do this, and if not, you can do it from online editors such as Google Doc.
Protect your WiFi network
If you didn’t know how to set up your home network yourself before, it might be time for you to learn.
By knowing how to change the password, see who is using the network, and block computers with their MAC address, you can have a secure WiFi network.
It is also recommended to change the password every 2 months.
A vulnerable WiFi network is a cybersecurity risk for both you and your company, but more so for you. If someone gains access to it, they will be able to obtain all the data stored on your personal devices.
