The BIG Return

As companies begin bringing employees back to the office, it is important to prepare not only the desks but assess the additional security risks. Employees have been working from home for over two years. Now that they are returning to the office, they could bring back some unwanted guests.

Home networks tend to be less secure than the offices, especially with children doing online learning at home on the same network. Employees have also been working at cafes, public Wi-Fi hotspots and other less secure locations.

Just as kids bring viruses home from school, employees can bring viruses back to the corporate network. In preparation to everyone returning to the office, we recommend small and medium business take some additional precautions.

Five Ways to Protect Your Office

1. Cyber Test Employees

The best protection against phishing attacks, email and text scams and other social threats is to provide employees the opportunity to practice. Running phishing tests for employees allows them to practice catching scam email, texts or calls before they receive a real one. There are many services that will send employees phishing tests and provide feedback to each person on what they can do to catch the scammer before they get in trouble.

Blue Summit recommends Trend Micro as they provide online training before and after the tests to help employees identify and delete spam email.

2. Secure Networks

Having a firewall just isn’t enough anymore. Hackers are getting smarter and once they get in there is nothing stopping them from wreaking havoc on your computers and network. At a minimum, you need a good business firewall that protects both inbound and outbound traffic. Only allow known traffic out of your office, to ensure hackers can’t create connections from inside your office. Blue Summit recommends Netgate firewalls for small and medium sized businesses. They are less expensive and allow for granular management of traffic.

Managing access to websites is also a critical part of your secure network. Employees may not always be able to tell if a URL or website is legitimate. Putting systems in place to automatically check a URL before it is clicked helps protect employees from accidentally going to the wrong place and inviting unwanted friends in. Blue Summit recommends using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. It integrates with all the Microsoft products and checks all links before they are clicked.

Lastly, we recommend monitoring network traffic. A simple network monitor allows you to be notified of anything happening on your network. Using a network monitor will help you catch a hacker before they do any damage. There are many online tools that will automatically notify you if they find any problems.

3. Antivirus Software

When working in a hybrid setting, staff can be more vulnerable to viruses on their devices. Antivirus software works hard to protect against some of the most common digital security threats, including viruses, phishing, and malware. Traditional antivirus software does so by actively searching for and defending against known threats, and it updates regularly as new threats arise.

A beneficial antivirus software is Microsoft Defender. Microsoft defender is an easy-touse product that provides enterprise-grade protection against digital threats. It can benefit your business by offering threat and vulnerability management, next-generation virus protection, data protection, and so much more.

4. Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security method which requires two forms of identity verification in order to access protected data and/or resources. This means that a password alone is insufficient in passing the authentication process.

Regardless of working in the office or remotely, it allows businesses to monitor and help safeguard important information, whilst simultaneously protecting against cybercriminals taking advantage of your data. The process of 2FA is highly userfriendly, easy to manage, and effective in defending your digital information.

5. IT Assets Disposal and Recycling

A necessary stage of the IT asset lifetime is the retirement of underutilized or outdated assets. Failure to properly dispose of IT equipment can have implications for your operations and data, not to mention the physical workplace.

It is important to ensure all confidential data and hardware components are properly destroyed in accordance with recommended procedures and standards. Ensure you are provided a ‘Certificate of Destruction’ of your hard drives and other IT related equipment, so that you know with confidence your data is handled and removed with compliance and care.

As you can see, a return to the office isn’t just turning the lights on and asking everyone to come back in. It takes a bit of thought and implementation of safety precautions to ensure a smooth transition back to work. Let us help you make that transition. Contact us today for a free initial consultation.

+44 (0)20 3034 1611 www.bluesummittech.com