This is going to be a busy year for summer vacations. The country is opening back up due to the COVID-19 vaccines and people are planning overdue vacations in celebration.
Those employee vacations could leave companies at higher risk of a data breach or ransomware infection because today’s networks are “always connected.” Just one login to a company cloud account from public Wi-Fi in Jamaica could mean a hacker now has access to all of your company emails.
Most people are never completely away from the office while taking time off. Statistics show that 2 in 3 Americans admit to working while on vacation.
Mobile apps and the use of the cloud have made it possible to work from anywhere. That type of flexibility is generally a good thing. However, if a company’s cybersecurity is not updated to protect those traveling devices, it can mean a major breach.
53% of surveyed companies say they have experienced a significant breach due to a lack of mobile device security.
Vacation season is upon us and it is important to address security with your employees and implement the proper safeguards to allow them (and you) to work safely.
Require Use of a Business VPN When Working Away from the Office
Even the simple act of going online to log in and check work email can put a company at risk of a breach if it is done on public Wi-Fi (airport, hotel, restaurant, etc).
Invest in a business VPN subscription that will allow employee data traffic to be encrypted even if they are on public Wi-Fi. Instruct employees to turn on the VPN before logging into or accessing any company data. It is also a good idea to turn it on at all times to protect their personal online accounts.
Implement Company-Wide Two-Factor Authentication
If you don’t have two-factor authentication enabled, your company accounts are at risk even if employees are working at the office. The majority of cloud data breaches (77%) are due to compromised passwords.
Adding two-factor authentication stops nearly all fraudulent login attempts. According to Microsoft, it is 99.9% effective at keeping accounts secured.
This additional security will prevent accounts from being compromised even if an employee accidentally logs in on public Wi-Fi and a hacker steals their password. The hacker will not have the device that receives the MFA code.
Ensure All Devices are Updated & Protected with Antivirus
Any device that an employee uses to access business applications and data should be protected with reliable antivirus software and should be fully updated. This means that the operating system, firmware and software should be kept current.
Enable Remote IT Support for Employees Traveling with Laptops
If you have employees traveling with laptops that they use for work, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by ensuring that those devices are signed up for remote support and giving your employees access to your remote support provider (like Sound Computers) if they run into device issues.
Without this safety net, a laptop could get infected with spyware while an employee is on vacation. They may notice something strange but figure that they will wait until they get back to contact anyone about it. In the meantime, they might log in to a company cloud storage account while still away and can end up infecting the entire network.
If they have a resource that they know will be there for them, it can nip this type of issue in the bud before it spreads beyond their device.
Turn Off Shared Folders and Discovery
Two important safeguards for devices that are about to be taken on vacation are to turn off any shared folders. Sharing may be turned on in order to easily share files with a network. However, you don’t want it allowing strangers to get to sensitive files.
The other setting to turn off on mobile devices and laptops is the ability for other devices on a network to discover yours. In other words, if you are at the airport connecting to Wi-Fi and you see things like “Jan’s iPhone” or “Martin’s Laptop”, they will not be able to connect to each other by accident.
You are seeing those because the people didn’t turn off device discovery. You want those turned off so that hackers who are hanging out on the same network will not see and try to target your device.
Backup All Devices Before Vacation
Mobile devices and laptops can be lost or stolen while on vacation. Make sure employees are backing up their work devices fully before they leave so, in the case of loss, it will just be the hardware that is lost and not the data on it.
Find My Device/Wipe My Device
An important feature to turn on is the ability to “find my device” or “wipe my device.” If a device is stolen this could prevent a data breach.
If you just left your smartphone by the pool, you could easily find it and save yourself a lot of stress.
Does Your Team Have the Tech Support They Need When Away from the Office?
Sound Computers can help your Connecticut business ensure that employees are fully covered with remote support regardless of their location.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 860-577-8060 or reach us online.