In the last fifty years, the way we work and the spaces we work in have changed dramatically. With corporate culture becoming more tech-focused than ever before, and the invention of tablets and laptops means that many people bring their personal and work lives back and forth to the office.
Many of us have spent the last year working from home, but many offices are now starting to re-open and will have options to work in an office going forward. Because quite frankly, you can only do so much on a zoom call.
As people go back into offices, it is important to use these privacy and security practices that many have become more aware of during the pandemic, and apply them to how we use our devices in the workplace.
Now you might say, but I'm going to be in my own company's office, why does this matter?
Unfortunately, if you are on your company's internet and servers, if they are hit, you can be hit too if you don't take the right precautions. This applies also to any co-working space you may visit frequently when you need to get out of the house.
On the other hand, with companies now letting people enter the office space once again, there are stories of these companies attempting to contact trace their employees to follow their interactions.
We've laid out a few steps below to make sure that you are maintaining your Privacy and Security during your daily work life.
#1 Two factor authentication
Beyond the traditional password, two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of protection. Since hackers need access to your account password and your additional security method to reach the account, it reduces your chance of becoming a victim of a breach. This should be mandatory for any work emails, websites that you regularly log into with company data, social media accounts, or applications that you use daily for work.
#2 Securing smart devices
Every computer, including televisions, refrigerators, coffee machines, and printers, now has intelligence thanks to the Internet of Things. Many of these devices can be linked to the network in a co-working room. People may gain access to the Wi-Fi network or vice versa by tampering with either of these devices. As a result, it is critical to keep these devices safe by ensuring that their hardware is tamper-proof and that their firmware is modified regularly. If you brought a device to work but aren't using it until a specific moment, store it in a Faraday Sleeve so it is cut off from this network until you need to use it.
#3 Monitoring
Users would not attempt to steal data or equipment that does not belong to them if cameras track them. Physical access cards, user log-in and log-out times, and the installation of cameras can help improve the room's overall security.
#4 Taking Inventory
You can't protect what you don't even realize you have. Make sure you have systems in place to track all of your company's hardware and software properties. Using tools such as an active discovery tool or a software inventory tool, you can quickly locate connected devices to access and automate all software documentation on your business processes. While this may sound like a hardware specific task, many people and companies have more stored in their local or cloud-based databases than they realize. Take the time to make sure there are multiple copies of important documents and that they are stored in multiple places in case one goes down.
#5 Use a VPN
When conducting business outside of the office network, always use a VPN instead of Wi-Fi to ensure your privacy (Virtualized Personal Network). A VPN encrypts traffic and functions as a secure tunnel over the internet. Effectively masking your location and your internet usage.
#6 Adopt Faraday Sleeves
Wifi hacking, GPS tracking (hello contact tracing), EMF radiation, and more are all very real threats. As more of the world moved online in the last year than ever before, bad actors are out there, and are looking for vulnerabilities. Adoption of Faraday Sleeves to and from your workplace ensure that your data is secure with no GPS, WiFi, Cellular, GPS (contact tracing), RFID/NFC, EMF, or Bluetooth signals going in or out of your devices.