Are You Using VPNs for Remote Employees?
Dear Friend and Client,
Important Client Memorandum: IT Security Tips To Maximize Up Time!
How can we help you right now?
No April fools jokes here, although we could all use a good laugh and a little help managing our background anxiety. Right?
By now, I am sure you are getting more business advice than you can handle right now. I hope you welcome my emails ( trying to keep them short), intended to support you as you rise to the challenges that this pandemic is creating.
And it looks like it will be a longer haul than anticipated, not to mention it will likely change the business landscape for all of us.
As you focus on shifting employees to home, your business financials, and the government programs becoming available, keep IT in mind, especially security, connectivity, and data protection.
Transitioning to an at home workforce is challenging on so many levels. Your IT priorities may be hampered by attention to other issues. Your current IT resources may be stretched as well. The good news? We’re still here, still open, and still providing a strong portfolio of remote IT management services.
Here are THREE quick tips for you to consider:
Work at home via work computers : Because your employees may be required to work from home, their mindset may be, “I may as well use my home computer.” This is a dangerous mistake. Home computers and personal mobile devices could be littered with tons of downloaded music, videos, images, and more. Because it’s more exposed, it can invite malware into your business network. ONLY devices that are under our vigilant watch of patching, updating, and monitoring should be used by your employees to work remotely. Provide a company-approved and secured computer/laptop for employees to use at home.
Minimizing Cyber Risks : We expect a rise in cyberattacks during this pandemic because of the dramatic increase of employees working from home. Far too many employers won’t think about security as their team starts working at the kitchen table. That’s a dangerous precedent. First, make sure your employees are not using their home computers or devices when working. Second, ensure your work-at-home computers have a firewall that’s turned on. Finally, your network and data are not truly secure unless your employees utilize a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Please call us if you need help setting up a VPN for at home workers.
So, if you need help or decide to get some of your staff up and working remotely we do have a few fast , easy, and inexpensive ways to enable them to work remotely, and securely quickly from home. An alternative to VPN is a secure, encrypted and reliable remote connection from a computer at home to a computer at the office like LogMeIn – Call anytime to discuss.
Cloud Applications : If you’re using cloud applications while your employees are working from home, you are justified to be concerned about data privacy and security. The company hosting your data is ultimately responsible for keeping hackers out of THEIR network, but most cloud breaches are due to USER ERROR. Here are a few things you can easily do to improve security in the cloud:
Maintain a STRONG password of at least eight (8) characters with both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Do NOT make it easy, such as “Password123!” While that technically meets the requirements, a hacker could easily crack that.
Make sure the device you’re using to access the application is secure. You’ll need professional help installing and maintaining a strong firewall, antivirus and spam-filtering software. Don’t access your cloud applications with a device you also use to check social media sites and free e-mail accounts.
Back up your data. If the data in the cloud is important, make sure you’re downloading it from the application and backing it up to another safe and secure location. If your account gets hacked OR if the cloud company shuts down your account, you have a copy.
We’re here to help keep your business up and running. We also have techs available to assist if you have an IT emergency on site or we are just a phone call away if you want to talk about any issue that might arise.
Take Care, and Stay Well. As always, we appreciate your trust and confidence.
Continue to be smart about your IT infrastructure and policies. This will help you maximize uptime. Call us at 508.528.7720 if you need help, or simply reply to this message.
Stay safe, follow the guidelines and rules, and remember to take a few deep breaths to stay calm, relaxed and in control – to the extent possible.
We are not in any way looking to hard sell you anything – I am just happy to simply help out with what we can, as responsively as we can.
Our team is up and running remote, and we have the ability to throw you a life line if you are in need of one. Let me know how I can be of service.
Sincerely,
Michelle Carlow
President