During the COVID-19 pandemic, more organizations are asking their employees to work from home. It could be awhile before your staff returns to the office. As a result, your company must be vigilant about protecting its data while your employees are working from home. In this blog, we offer tips for keeping your business data safe.
Foster Employee Awareness
Even while working from home, your employees are the first line of defense against data breaches. Remind them of your company’s policy on application use, data transmittal, and data disposal. Highlight phishing and malware risks. Your staff should be as careful at home with corporate documents and data as they are in the workplace.
Document Disposal
Your employees should maintain secure document disposal standards while working from home. Sensitive paper records with personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) must never be discarded in residential trash or recycling receptacles. Consumer-grade paper shredders should also be avoided, as they do not meet the security standards of most corporate information disposal policies. Instruct your employees to keep no-longer-needed documents in a box, and bring to the nearest drop-off shredding location for secure destruction. When your office reopens, your staff should deposit unwanted documents in a shredding collection container for purge shredding.
Company Issued Device Security
It is all too easy to ignore device security when working from home. Laptops and USB drives are easy to transport—and easy to lose. Your employees should never leave company-issued devices unattended on porches, patios, or in vehicles. Make sure that staff know what to do if a company-issued device is lost or stolen.
Home Network Security
It is easier for cybercriminals to steal your company data when your employees are working from home. Remind your staff to use complex WiFi passwords, and they should only connect to your corporate network through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. A VPN ensures that your company’s electronic data security protocols are always used when employees are working from home. To prevent your network from being infected with malware, remind your employees to never click on links or download email attachments from unverified senders.
CI Information Management provides NAID AAA Certified shredding and destruction services to residents and businesses in the Tri-Cities, the Yakima Valley, Walla Walla, Hermiston, OR, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, and nearly everywhere in between.
For more information, please call us at 509-586-6090 or complete the form on this page.
