Working from home? How to work securely during the coronavirus lockdownSponsoredon May 27, 2020 at 3:25 pm

Working from home? How to work securely during the coronavirus lockdown

With the majority of the world’s workforce working from home, businesses are relying on digital tools to stay afloat.

As the coronavirus story continues to unfold, companies are scrambling to avoid disruption to their normal operations. New tools are adopted without permission, employees work on unsecured networks, and while everyone is trying to make the best out of an awkward situation, security holes loom large.

From an onslaught of coronavirus phishing scams to attacks on the World Health Organization and Zoom privacy scares, the pandemic has posed many cybersecurity challenges. Meanwhile, the world’s security experts, from the EU Agency of Cybersecurity to the National Cyber Security Centre, have offered their advice.

So here are a few important tips to consider when working from home:

Update programs, apps and operating systems

It’s easy to get complacent with updates, especially when everything seems to be running well. But many updates patch up new security vulnerabilities to keep cybercriminals from infiltrating your devices.

Change your router username and password

While company routers and networks are designed to secure the business against cyberattacks, your home router can be extremely vulnerable. If you’ve never changed your router password, do so now. The default usernames and passwords for most models are common knowledge across the internet and are easy to find. That’s all a cybercriminal needs to capture your router. They may spy on your traffic, steal your credentials, slow down your traffic and even include you as an unwitting participant in attacks against other websites.

Use a VPN

You may already be using a company VPN to access the private network of your workplace. If you aren’t, your connection is not as secure as it should be. NordVPN secures your internet connection by encrypting your traffic and protecting your sensitive data while it’s in transit, to prevent it from being stolen or tampered with.

Use corporate services for messaging

While it’s tempting to send passwords or sensitive company files over WhatsApp or other personal apps, they offer very little protection. Stick to tools that have been configured for business security by your IT team – like Microsoft Office 365, Slack or HipChat, for instance.

Stay vigilant

Urgent warnings from the FBI, governments and the world’s cybersecurity community shouldn’t be taken lightly. With the increased internet use during the pandemic and the general atmosphere of fear and panic, cybercriminals continue to make headlines with their scams. The NCSC said that 471 fake online shops selling fraudulent virus-related items had been taken down in the past month alone. Meanwhile, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany lost tens of millions of euros to a phishing operation against an aid website that wasn’t secured properly.

In the rush to stay productive and focused, we often forget about the details, and it only takes a single weak link to crumble your security. Please cross-check every email you receive for legitimacy, use NordVPN to secure your traffic and, above all, stay safe.