A recent technology survey from the National Small Business Association reports that 44 percent of small businesses allow their employees to work remotely. While offering potential benefits, telecommuting also introduces new risks:
- Accessing unsecured public Wi-Fi networks
- Letting family and friends use work issued devices
- Altering security settings to view blocked sites
- Leaving work issued devices in an insecure location
- Backing up company data to a home computer
- Emailing company data to a personal email account
Securing devices
- Protected information must be transported in a secure manner.
- When transporting laptops, hard drives and other devices by car, be sure to lock the vehicle during any stops along the way.
- Electronic devices should not be left visible in the car.
- Protected information must be stored in a secure place away from public or family exposure/access.
Securing data
- Do not store data on non-company-owned computers.
- Dispose of any company documents according to company policy.
- Use network access control (NAC) systems to check clients and laptops to make sure they are hardened, secure and comply with your information security policies.
- Make sure all devices are patched, up-to-date and have protection like antivirus and antispyware software installed.
Wi-Fi security
- If you have a choice, select wireless networks that use some form of encryption. In order of preference, choose networks secured with WPA2 encryption, then WPA. Use WEP only as a last resort.
- After joining, set network location to “Public” (in Windows 7) to block file and printer sharing—common routes for hackers.
- Use a VPN (virtual private network) to access company servers. VPNs encrypt any traffic from the remote client to the corporate network, creating secure tunnels that prevent snoopers from intercepting data from your web sessions.
- Never opt to have your browser or a particular website ‘remember’ or ‘save’ your password.
- Use HTTPS and SSL connections whenever possible. Many websites use HTTPS and SSL to make your connection more secure—both protocols provide encryption. For example, https://www.gmail.com is more secure than http://www.gmail.com, which is unencrypted.
Before traveling
- Run a data scan to identify the nature and location of potentially confidential information such as Social Security or credit card numbers.
- Ensure your operating system is fully patched.
- Verify that your antivirus software has the latest virus definition updates.
- Update third-party software (e.g. Adobe).
Download this document and share with your IT group: Telecommuting Security and Your Business
About Custom Information Services
CIS’ primary objective is to provide business with technology solutions to forward thinking companies. The CIS IT Services Group offers managed IT solutions that include cloud, virtualization, on-premise support, and long term IT planning. The Professional Services Group offering includes Microsoft Dynamics GP for accounting, distribution and manufacturing. The CIS staff of certified professionals has been helping business implement and maintain technology since 1989. CIS also writes for several blogs and maintains certifications and partnership with Microsoft.
Phone 817.640.0016
About Custom Information Services (CIS)
Custom Information Services (CIS) is a Certified ERP Partner with Microsoft for the sales and implementation of Microsoft Dynamics GP® for companies of all sizes and industries. We have a specialization area that includes manufacturers and distributors that produce and distribute food, beverages, chemicals, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Since our inception in 1989, CIS has assisted companies with the implementation of ERP solutions in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. CIS now exclusively represents Dynamics GP due to this solutions wide vertical reach and customer list of over 43K. CIS employs certified Dynamics GP consultants that are knowledgeable in not only the software, but best practices to assist our customers in reducing overhead with streamlined inter-company processing, centralized accounts payable, distribution, and manufacturing. CIS is also a pleased to be a SalesPad, Binary Stream, Ethotech, Mekorma and Vicinity Manufacturing Partner.
CIS offers additional services including hosting, cloud deployments, and Managed IT Services that are not exclusive to our Dynamics GP customers.
You can contact our experienced DFW sales team at sales@customis.com or by calling 817-640-0016. If you would like to find out more about CIS, please visit our website www.customis.com. CIS is located in Arlington, Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth) and with our specialty expertise in process manufacturing, we are available where we are needed.
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