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Security best practices for remote workers

Apogee Compliance Group • Apr 10, 2020

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By Apogee Compliance Group 01 Jul, 2020
The question of monitoring your employees’ computers is a tricky one. Some say such a practice is unethical. But it can also be a way to prevent data breaches. Find out the pros and cons of monitoring your employees’ online behavior by reading this blog. And should you decide your business needs employee monitoring, we […]
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Advances in IT have transformed paper medical records into digital files that can easily be accessed and stored. Sadly, this development has also resulted in sensitive healthcare data, or personal health information (PHI), becoming a bigger target for hackers. Because of this, healthcare providers must remain vigilant against all forms of cyberattacks. From financial information […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 24 Jun, 2020
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By Apogee Compliance Group 17 Jun, 2020
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By Apogee Compliance Group 15 Jun, 2020
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By Apogee Compliance Group 10 Jun, 2020
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By Apogee Compliance Group 03 Jun, 2020
Residential Wi-Fi connections are slower and less reliable than enterprise-grade ones. But now that more people have shifted to remote work, having a fast and stable wireless connection at home is more important than ever. What can you do to ensure you don’t suffer dropped Wi-Fi signals while you’re in a videoconference or finishing up […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 27 May, 2020
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many business owners are cutting costs and jeopardizing their organization’s efficiency as a result. If you want to avoid this outcome, you should invest in cloud technology. The cloud will not just help you save money, but it will also help your business run more efficiently. Ensuring continuity and efficiency with […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 25 May, 2020
Many small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owners never expect a major crisis to hit their company and are often caught flat-footed when it does. Such events can cause downtime, which can lead to lost revenue and reduced profits. In addition, SMBs that fail to recover quickly from disruption face the risk of losing their customers […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 20 May, 2020
When it comes to cybersecurity, you probably think of protecting computers, apps, or online databases first and printers last. Precisely because they’re overlooked in, printers can be exploited by hackers and used as a gateway to infiltrate your systems. Secure your networks against intruders by following these steps. What makes business printers vulnerable to cyberattacks? […]
Security best practices for remote workers

Working from home increases employee autonomy, cuts costs, and ensures the health and safety of the company during the coronavirus pandemic. The problem is, it also increases the likelihood of security breaches since employees are working outside the company's security perimeter. That’s why you and your staff must adhere to these security best practices.

Fortify user accounts

When everyone is working remotely, user accounts must be properly secured. One way to achieve this is by setting at least 12-character long passwords with numbers and special characters mixed in to make them more difficult to guess. More importantly, these passwords must be unique to each account, to minimize the damage if hackers do manage to compromise one set of credentials. If you find it difficult to generate and remember login details for all your accounts, consider password managers like LastPass , Dashlane , and Keeper.

To further strengthen your accounts, however, you’ll also need to enable multifactor authentication (MFA). This adds another layer of identity verification — like fingerprint scans or one-time activation codes generated by SMS — to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to hijack your accounts.

Use a virtual private network (VPN)

VPNs are primarily known for circumventing geographic restrictions on location-specific websites and streaming services, but they’re also a crucial tool for remote workers. A reliable VPN creates secure connections between devices and networks by encrypting internet traffic. This hides web activity from prying eyes, protecting your employees’ online privacy, and mitigating the risk of hackers stealing company information.

Patch your software regularly

Although installing software updates can be a major nuisance, they cover critical weaknesses and protect your systems from the latest threats. Most apps now offer an automatic update feature so you don’t have to manually patch your software.

Another option for your business is patch management software. These track patches on employee devices and distribute the most recent updates on a company-wide scale.

Set up firewalls and antivirus software

Make sure to enable firewalls in your operating systems and hardware. These provide a strong layer of protection between your device and the internet, preventing malicious programs and other network threats from reaching your device. Your managed IT services provider (MSP) may also provide third-party firewalls in case your computers don’t have any built in by default.

In addition to firewalls, you’ll also want to implement antivirus software to detect and remove any malicious programs that do manage to find their way onto your device. Just remember to constantly update the software so it can effectively detect the newest malware.

Secure home routers

Home Wi-Fi routers are not as thoroughly secured as their business counterparts so take extra precautions to safeguard them. For starters, change your router password as soon as possible because hackers can easily break into them once they know the router model. You should also install the latest firmware updates to eliminate any security vulnerabilities.

Finally, check whether your router has Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) encryption settings to secure inbound and outbound traffic. If your router doesn’t have this setting, you’re overdue for an upgrade.

Back up your data

Important files must be backed up regularly in the cloud and your external hard drive. This way, you’ll always have a copy of your files in case of a major data loss incident like ransomware or a power outage.

Watch out for online scams

The biggest threat remote workers face is online scams. Phishing emails may entice you with free coronavirus test kits in exchange for personal information. Some cybercriminals may even masquerade as legitimate companies, CEOs, or friends to trick you into clicking on dangerous links and attachments.

To avoid these threats, you must be critical of everything you see online. Look for any suspicious links and attachments, grammatical errors in the email body, and misspelled email addresses. Plus, never give out sensitive information to an unsolicited email, text message, or phone call.

Working from home poses many cybersecurity challenges for businesses, but you don’t have to address them alone. If you need guidance with setting up firewalls, avoiding scams, and even enabling MFA, we can provide the IT support you need in this difficult time. Call us now.

By Apogee Compliance Group 01 Jul, 2020
The question of monitoring your employees’ computers is a tricky one. Some say such a practice is unethical. But it can also be a way to prevent data breaches. Find out the pros and cons of monitoring your employees’ online behavior by reading this blog. And should you decide your business needs employee monitoring, we […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 26 Jun, 2020
Advances in IT have transformed paper medical records into digital files that can easily be accessed and stored. Sadly, this development has also resulted in sensitive healthcare data, or personal health information (PHI), becoming a bigger target for hackers. Because of this, healthcare providers must remain vigilant against all forms of cyberattacks. From financial information […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 24 Jun, 2020
Cutting costs is great for business, but only if doing so does not result in lower-quality products or services. You can achieve this kind of compromise in your IT system, too. Instead of investing in expensive computer hardware, you can opt for affordable but powerful thin and zero clients. What are thin and zero clients? […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 17 Jun, 2020
Most people don’t question the padlock icon that sometimes appears in their web browser’s address bar. If you’re one of those who didn’t know, it’s a security feature that authenticates websites and protects the information users submit to them. Another indicator you’re in a secure site is the HTTP before the site’s URL. But why […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 15 Jun, 2020
IT services are more critical than ever before, proving their value in the face of a health crisis and the abrupt shift to remote working. Here are some ways managed IT services providers (MSPs) are helping small companies leverage technology to support their remote teams and go about business as usual. Providing infrastructure and service […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 10 Jun, 2020
If you have an Android device, be careful! An exceptionally dangerous Android malware known as DEFENSOR ID is currently making the rounds in the Google Play Store. The malware exploits the Accessibility Services in an Android device to evade detection by traditional security measures. This threat can put your data and business in jeopardy, so […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 03 Jun, 2020
Residential Wi-Fi connections are slower and less reliable than enterprise-grade ones. But now that more people have shifted to remote work, having a fast and stable wireless connection at home is more important than ever. What can you do to ensure you don’t suffer dropped Wi-Fi signals while you’re in a videoconference or finishing up […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 27 May, 2020
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many business owners are cutting costs and jeopardizing their organization’s efficiency as a result. If you want to avoid this outcome, you should invest in cloud technology. The cloud will not just help you save money, but it will also help your business run more efficiently. Ensuring continuity and efficiency with […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 25 May, 2020
Many small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owners never expect a major crisis to hit their company and are often caught flat-footed when it does. Such events can cause downtime, which can lead to lost revenue and reduced profits. In addition, SMBs that fail to recover quickly from disruption face the risk of losing their customers […]
By Apogee Compliance Group 20 May, 2020
When it comes to cybersecurity, you probably think of protecting computers, apps, or online databases first and printers last. Precisely because they’re overlooked in, printers can be exploited by hackers and used as a gateway to infiltrate your systems. Secure your networks against intruders by following these steps. What makes business printers vulnerable to cyberattacks? […]
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