The global pandemic gave birth to a new way of working that was never considered effective in the past decades. Remote working popularly came into existence back in 2020, when Covid-19 took over the entire globe and paused inhouse working.
Since then, companies have realized that remote working is not bad at all. While working from the comforts of their home, employees had much more to offer and had become more productive.
However, organizations, after a few significant data breach scenarios, also realized that remote employees can put their business data at risk. Due to vulnerable and unsecured connections, cyberattacks have become more evident across the world.
These cyber breaches are more prominent in dominant countries like the US, US, Australia, Canada, etc. So, in this guide, we’ll give you five tips to avoid cybersecurity attacks while working from home:
5 Tips to Avoid Cyberattacks While Working from Home
If you’re worried about a cyberattack while remote working, then you need to be very vigilant and take some effective steps to prevent this from happening to you. Here are five quick tip for preventing cyber breaches from home:
1. Avoid all kinds of phishing scams:
The first way to avoid cyberattacks is by staying vigilant and avoiding all kinds of phishing scams. This is the easiest way for breaching the data of companies and cybercriminals to cash on this scam every day.
For example, you might receive an email from your organization that looks super authentic, asking you to fill out a form about receiving the Covid vaccine. The form might ask you to enter your official email ID and password for submission.
While this might look normal, it can be a scam to retrieve your credentials and to access your company’s data or software.
This is why you need to be extremely vigilant when it comes to emails. Reconfirm with your peers if they received anything like it before giving any information away.
2. Use a reliable VPN service:
Another way to prevent all kinds of cyberattacks is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) on your office device. A VPN encrypts your entire connection and keeps you away from the prying eyes of cybercriminals.
This means that even if you’re on a conference call on the most vulnerable Wi-Fi connection, a VPN will protect you there as well and won’t expose your sensitive information to any hacker out there.
VPNs offer a variety of security features that are meant to keep you super-private at all costs. Premium VPNs offer military-grade encryption, no logs, split tunneling, and more to users. They also offer top-notch security protocols like OpenVPN, PPTP, WireGuard, etc. for user security at all times.
Most organizations turned towards VPNs for help as soon as the pandemic started. So, if you live in a country where the data breach rate is high, like the UK, then you need a secure VPN UK for yourself.
3. Use complex passwords:
All your devices and connections need to be password-protected to stay safe from data breaches. From your office PC to your wi-fi connection, no device should show any sign of vulnerability that could attract a cybercriminal.
As recommended by the National Cyber Security Alliance, one should always use strong, complex, and lengthy passwords so no one can snoop in. Passwords like ‘1234’ or ‘your name’ are the easiest to trespass into, and can do more damage than you think.
Therefore, it’s always recommended to use a password manager to save your complex password from eliminating any chances of forgetting them.
The security consultants from nfina.com emphasize the importance of cyber resilience even when away from a traditional office setting. They understand the role of strong passwords in keeping data safe, especially when working remotely. This is a surefire way to make sure the cloud can be reached only by authentic
4. Set up two-factor authentication:
The fourth way to prevent yourself from cyberattacks is to set up 2FA on your device. Two-factor authentication is known to add an extra layer of protection to your accounts and devices, making them more secure.
For example, if a hacker tries to log in and access your emails, you will be sent a code on your phone number immediately as soon as he clicks ‘Forgot your password?’. This code will only be accessible to you, and only you will be able to unlock your email account.
5. Avoid public Wi-Fi connections:
Well, remote working doesn’t always mean that you’re going to work while sitting on your bed or couch. Someday, you might also be fascinated to work in a cafe while having coffee and using their public wi-fi network.
In this case, we’d like to inform you that public wi-fi connections are the most vulnerable to attacks and let hackers pry into your device and steal all your sensitive information.
This is why one needs to avoid public wi-fi connections at all costs. And if you’re desperate to work on one, then you better connect to a VPN before doing the deed.
Conclusion
Even though we’ve mentioned five ways to avoid cyber breaches while working remotely, there are more methods than that. However, these are simply the basic steps to prevent data breaches on your connection.
Out of all the options there, the most effective one is to use a VPN service, which we highly recommend to every one of you if you work remotely.
