Whilst this offers some form of protection, there are increasing dangers in light of recent events
that mean regardless of whether you have a large Enterprise IT support or whether you are an SME with
a smaller IT footprint, the following advice is recommended to support your remote working needs.
Security Threat:
The term security threat is the potential for something malicious or for something intentionally bad
to be implemented against you and your IT systems. With the recent COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in a time
where we are anxious and fearful of the unknown pandemic, this is also the time that Cyber criminals
target those that may be vulnerable. With a significant of us working remotely this threat is amplified
by the ability to not be protected by our IT systems.
In light of the COVID-19 (Corona virus) we are seeing significant reports globally in an increase in
Phishing emails designed to lure users into either clicking on links or downloading attachments. We
are also seeing ‘Corona’ related malware specifically circulating the Internet that is being used in
tagreted attacks to indivduals through phishing and general websites hosting information on Covid-19
wherebby these websites contain malware downloadable links.
Recommendations for Implementing IT Security when working Remotely:
Whether you have support from your company’s IT Enterprise systems, use a third-party managed
IT service or manage your network, now is a good time to ensure your Operating Systems are patched
and up to date
For approx. 90% of us, we all have Wi-Fi in our homes or spaces where we are working. Now is
the time to consider the following:
Check you are not using a default wifi password for connecting to your wifi router
and consider changing it and using a password manager to store your wifi password
Ensure that you are using at least WPA2 but ideally WPA3 protocol when connecting.
For some this option may be limited but you can check if you log into your wifi router a
nd this can be explained often if you look on the back of your wifi router for details
about how to access the wifis panel
If you’re a small SME without the support of a third-party managed IT service or the
offerings of an IT Enterprise support team, consider using a commercial VPN provider.
Especially if you need to work on Public wifi networks as this will provide an added
layer of protection for your data that you use on your network
If you receive any emails relating to COVID-19, Corona virus or anything related to the
current pandemic then treat the email with suspicion and report the email to your IT Administrator.
For those who do not have this support, make note that you have received such an email and delete
the email. Do not click on any links or download any attachments. We advise that if you’ve received
such an email it may be because your email address has been obtained from a previous effort or
through a data leak from a service you have used before and therefore the risk of increased phishing
emails to you will increase
Ensure that you have updated anti-malware and/or anti-virus software, or agents installed on your
laptops or PCs. For those of you who don’t have anti-malware we recommend you purchase a commercial
anti-malware application. We don’t advise on which one you should use but having some form of protection
is better than none
If you are sending confidential or sensitive information in the form of emails or via a chat
application, be aware that you’re not on a corporate IT system so if you send something to the wrong person
or by accident the consequences are higher. Ensure that you pay special attention when you are sending this
information and whether you need to protect the data before sending it
For those who have some form of IT support, ensure you have up to date contact information about how you
can contact your IT administrators. If you’ve used a web portal for raising tickets but the system is down
how will you contact them, e.g. have a plan B?
Need advice on your security needs but not sure what or who to contact, then we can help. We are offering telephone
and email advice for free to users who may be in a spot of bother during this pandemic so feel free to contact us for
advise on protection your home network and/or your business networks.