Alarming cyber security blind spot

Few things have had such a radical influence on office culture in recent years as the sudden shift during the pandemic to remote work for just about every company. But this can cause an alarming cyber security blind spot. Instead of commuting into an office, most employees are logging in to their jobs from home — and progressively more depending on cloud-based applications such as Google Drive or Dropbox to collaborate and get work done. Now that we have all gotten the hang of doing business via Zoom in our sweatpants, it’s doubtful that many enterprises will ever go back to a full-time, everyone in the office, everyday scenario.There is a huge downside to this situation. Dependence on cloud-based apps run on home computers and personal devices of your employees can leave your organization’s data particularly vulnerable to cyber theft and corruption. People are accessing company systems using their own network devices and services, many of which are not configured by default to be secure.

Simple actions for all personnel to keep data secure

• Before clicking through on any link or giving up any information in an e-mail, take the steps to verify the source. Call or visit the website and make sure it is a genuine organization.
• Keep your software updated. Configure automatic updates for your laptop operating system and applications (such as Microsoft Office 365, Adobe, Chrome browser, etc.).
• Use a password manager so you don’t have to remember or reuse passwords across accounts.
• Change default admin/access default account passwords on home devices and anything with Internet connectivity (including TVs, Alexa, etc.).
• Use antivirus software and keep it updated. Use endpoint antivirus/anti-malware protection software and keep it up to date.

In short, criminals are looking for any point of entry to steal your data. That means protecting yourselves is a company-wide team effort and not just the responsibility of the IT security team. Even though companies spend millions of dollars on security, you are only as strong as each employee in the organization. If the employees are not educated and not vigilant, you are completely sensitive to an attack.Contact us to help you secure your business.Read more about this: Source