How you can minimize the cyber-risk of working from home
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, more organizations are changing the way they operate and urging employees to work from home. With so many employees working remotely, cyber-security will be an issue.
It's unfortunate, but during times like this, the expert ABC13's Brhe Berry talked with said hackers know most of us are taking on new roles, like working from home, and they are only waiting for us to make a simple mistake.
Brhe got real, easy to follow advice from a cyber-security expert that can ensure we protect our computers while we are protecting our health.
Companies like Amazon have already urged their nearly 80,000 employees to work from home if they are able.
That means many employees, most who have never needed to work remotely before, will create more of a cyber-risk for their organization.
"Well, now here is this thing that effects every one of us, and everybody is hungry for information, and so a lot of the bait is predisposed to your need for that information," said CI Security Founder Mike Hamilton.
Hamilton says it's simple to resist the temptation to follow every link.
1. Employers need to have some control over the employees' work from home
They should discuss their password strength and make sure that the employer is able to remotely lock the device if there is a cyber-risk.
2. The employees' work space environment
Working from home could mean a house, a coffee shop, or another place like a park. Have a discussion to make sure you know the details of their location so security suggestions can be made.
3. Send awareness messages out to your employees reminding them about COVID-19 bait and phishing emails they need to know about
Hamilton says, as an employee, you can protect your employer.
"Don't willy-nilly surf around the internet. Don't follow links. It would be a real good idea if you did not use that system for any personal use at all." Hamilton said.
What do you do if you click the wrong link and you're hacked? He said immediately shut your computer down and call your organization's IT department.
They will likely have a plan in place to stop the hack and keep it from entering the organization's system from your computer.
