5 tips for safe teleworking

More and more Belgian workers are now working from home to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. That is why it is important that we are more alert to cybersecurity risks:

• Home networks are not always secure (think of open Wi-Fi or infected systems);
• When working ‘remotely’ fails, people look for detours to share documents via public Cloud solutions such as Dropbox, Google or other channels;
• Data is more often stored on laptops, which is by definition unsafe and puts sensitive data at risk;
• The risk of phishing increases because there is now more communication via email.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they are seeing an increasing number of phishing emails in which cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of the coronavirus by impersonating the WHO. As more people work from home, we can expect an increase in the number of phishing attempts in Belgium. So it is important that employees are aware of this. Working from home is not unsafe, but it needs to be handled with care. Especially companies that have no experience with it run the greatest risk.

Here are 5 tips:

• Give clear instructions for securing the network at home (such as using encryption, and updating the routers);
• Make sure that the procedure for using remote access is clearly tested and available;
• Provide clear instructions that information should not be shared on channels not supported by the company (e.g. Whatsapp, Dropbox, personal One-drive/Google drive/…, including via personal email boxes);
• When switching from a VPN network to a cloud solution, ensure that it is also sufficiently secure (Office 365 has many security features, but you must activate them);
• Make sure your employees are aware of phishing.

More info

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