As the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline from hacking has put cybersecurity front and center on everyone’s minds, the security risks of work from home also emerge as a threat. In a column on WRAL.com, written for Cii Technology, Abbey Slattery identifies a few solutions:
Offer Email Protection: Email spoofing is one of the most common ways cybercriminals gain access to private information. While most email accounts attempt to filter out unwanted messages, occasionally a spoofed email that looks like it came from a friend or coworker will make it past the spam filter.
You can combat spoofing threats by labeling emails that come from outside your company’s server. If an email that looks like it is from a colleague is labeled “external,” it’s easy for an employee to identify and report it.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Last year, data breaches in the United States led to more than 155 million private accounts being exposed to hackers, according to Statista. Because of this risk, accounts within your company that require only a username and password to access personal information are a serious security threat.
On the other hand, if your company accounts require two-factor authentication, which adds another confirmation, usually via email or text, that second layer of protection can make all the difference.
Get Employees’ Buy-In
Any online security strategy should start with educating employees. Getting their buy in initially instead of forcing a lot of new measures without explanation is more likely to work in the long run.
For example, requiring complicated passwords or frequent password changes often leads to employees using easily guessable passwords or leaving written lists of passwords in the open.