Working from home? Here’s what you need to stay secure

The Covid-19 crisis has brought changes in our practices and in the wake of the pandemic, the shift to working from home has become a new reality. While this offers benefits to employees and ensures business continuity, the upsurge in personal devices connecting to enterprises can actually present serious security challenges.

Keeping sensitive information safe is a challenge for both employers and employees. In most cases, home networks are not as secure as your organization’s network. The router may have outdated software that may be vulnerable for attacks and the setting provided by the vendor during the installation of the router may allow unauthorized access to the network leading to a security breach. Cybercriminals use this opportunity to trick users and extract sensitive business information.

Here are some safe information security practices for you to consider when working from home:

 Update your router

 Ensure you only connect to trusted hotspots

 Secure your home Wi-Fi with a strong password

 Ensure that an updated antivirus is running on your system

 If you’re connecting through a mobile hotspot, ensure that the mobile device is updated with the latest software and has an antivirus running on it

Beware of these dangerous security practices:

 Forwarding official emails to personal email accounts or vice-versa

 Sharing sensitive business data through cloud services that are not authorized by Bank of Beirut policies (Google Drive, Gmail, WhatsApp etc…)

 Connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks which expose your data to malicious actor

 Downloading or installing any software that is not approved

 Visiting untrusted websites and downloading content that might be infected with malware

Stay safe, everyone! Now more than ever.