Given the unusual recent circumstances, many employees around the world are finding themselves in a situation where they must work from home or remotely.
I’ve been working remotely for about 15 years, so I thought it would be great to share some of my experiences, cyber security best practices and tips, and lessons learned on how to stay focused.
I am fortunate that Thycotic is a global company that embraces remote workers. Our company culture is one that, no matter where in the world we work, our strength is our people, collaboration and teamwork. Our technology helps our employees, partners and customers securely access critical systems and applications regardless of their location. We enable businesses to continue growing even in emergency situations, such as now.
I find myself working from the most unusual places, including a remote island. And once I was quarantined years ago with the swine flu! So I’ve had some similar experiences.
I have great security and productivity advice for individuals AND for businesses, so read on.
I’ll start with tips for individuals who are working remotely, then I’ll provide resources for businesses that need to control cyber security risks while employees work remotely.
If you’re managing a remote team I recommend you also read our detailed information on empowering remote employees and vendors to stay productive and secure.
Security and Productivity Tips for Individuals Working Remotely
If you find yourself in a similar situation now, I hope you’ll find my lessons and tips for working remotely valuable. They’re designed to enable a somewhat normal routine in a chaotic world. They are useful in today’s unusual situation but will also prepare you should similar events force people to work remotely in the future.
Staying connected is key. Maintain your internet access anywhere, anytime.
This is one of the most important things I ask myself – how will I stay connected?
Whether it be via public internet access, home internet access, hotel internet access or even mobile internet, this is one of the critical questions for working remotely. How will you stay connected to your peers, colleagues, partners and your customers? In most homes today you’ll find that you have unlimited access at extremely fast speed, which is something I have been fortunate to have in Estonia, a country that prioritized digitalization many years ago. Here we enjoy high-speed internet in almost any location, even in the forest.
Knowing your bandwidth limitations is important—you might want to disable bandwidth-hungry applications. An issue that many are currently experiencing is that during normal situations their internet is usually fast, but when everyone else is also working remotely too, there is stress on the ISP’s capabilities.
Know when to switch between home internet and mobile internet. If you have important calls or webinars you may want to switch to your mobile internet because during busy times, it can be more reliable and faster. If you’re traveling outside your home country, you could purchase a mobile internet SIM card to reduce excessive internet charges just in case you’re stuck in a foreign country.
I was in a similar situation in 2010 when I was travelling from the USA to Europe and Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, cancelling or delaying most flights to and from Europe. I was stuck in Washington DC for a few days but maintained connectivity. Staying connected to the internet is critical for remote workers.
Some tips for accessing the internet when working remotely:
- Turn off bandwidth-hungry applications when not needed
- Always use your corporate VPN access when required—staying secure is vital
- Know when to switch between home internet or mobile internet
- Use a separate home internet network for work to isolate personal devices
- Ensure your home internet router password is long and strong (and use a password manager)
- Know your bandwidth limitations
- Monitor your internet bandwidth usage
You can read this entire article at Thycotic website.
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