With everyone settling into work from their home digs, it’s important to make sure that the attitudes surrounding good computer security aren’t falling by the wayside. One of the unfortunate side effects of people becoming more decentralized is how much harder it is to focus on things like antivirus alerts and system updates. If your systems aren’t being proactively managed from afar, new security holes are being introduced.
While it’s possible that your system will update itself automatically, it’s equally as possible that restart requests or other updates might go ignored. Many times a simple reboot at the end of the night is sufficient. If there are odd warnings or alerts, it’s likely that regular maintenance isn’t happening on your remote system. Sometimes the messages are subtle. Is your machine running slowly? Are applications crashing frequently?
There are environmental factors that can impact a system as well. Is there adequate space for air to move under or around your laptop? Do pets have access to power or system cables? Kids, well, they’re kids so who knows what might happen. Physical security should be practiced in the home too. Be mindful when using systems and try to remember to exercise the same caution as you would with an office machine. When not using it, shut it down and secure it whenever possible.
Finally, if you’re saving a lot of company data on your home-based laptop, backup becomes more critical. If you don’t have access to cloud storage or your company’s servers via secure access, you should bring up the subject with IT support. It’s important that your documents don’t get stranded.
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