Staff working from home and the office – 5 ways to protect your company data

office 925806 1920 1

Staff working from home and the office – 5 ways to protect your company data

 

Over the coming months, it’s likely that your people will be splitting their time between working from the office and working from home.  While this is a good way to protect both peoples’ health and your business, it does bring about other potential issues as far as devices are concerned.

But what would happen if one managed to get lost, stolen or damaged on the commute?

As careful as your team may be, it would only take one moment of distraction to leave a laptop on a train or in a shop (especially while you’re focusing on staying distant from other people).  With everything going on, it’s fair to say that people do have moments of distraction.

A lost laptop isn’t just an inconvenience. It potentially puts your company’s data in the hands of a stranger. So what extra precautions should you be taking to ensure that your data stays safe?

  •  You need an action plan for a lost or stolen device.  It should be reported internally immediately, and your people should all kow who to report it to and what will happen.
  • This plan should include blocking access to data, and logging out of all applications. Plus potentially reporting the loss to the authorities
  • You should be hot on using random passwords controlled by a password manager.
  • Utilise ulti-factor authentication where possible, for an extra layer of protection from hackers (this means you generate a code on a separate device any    time you want to login to something. Minor inconvenience. Major security).
  • Make sure all laptops are encrypted – that makes the data gobbledegook to anyone without the right login password.

Finally, make sure that you have insurance which covers you for such a situation. Even if your data is protected, you’ve still lost a costly device which will need replacing.

If you need help putting together your action plan for the loss or theft of a device, we’d love to help – contact us now on 0121 663 0203 or email hello@synium.co.uk

 

 

 

Simon Tonks
simon@synium.co.uk

Owner and MD of Synium who loves his job, his life and the wondrous outdoors - especially when on a golf course, or a bike of any kind (but preferably on a mountain bike going downhill fast).Please get in touch if there is anything IT related I can help you with (or if you want to talk golf or bikes :-)