How to protect yourself when running a business from home
If you run a business from home, the responsibility of staying safe online rests solely on your shoulders.
"While I'm sure most people are guilty of rolling their eyes at the IT department when things go wrong, it's easy to forget just how much these teams actually do," says Mark Webster, founder of digital marketing site Authority Hacker.
Webster, who has been running his business remotely for the past six years, says you have to not only secure your own data but keep your team members protected, as well. For example, that means having employees do things like:
- Create strong passwords to access business files
- Use secure cloud backups to store business data
- Secure online meetings or group chats
- Use encrypted passwords or multifactor authentication to log in to collaborative tools
- Use a secure password manager to keep track of login details
Webster says the most important thing employees can do is to follow best practices and the security protocols that are in place, even if they seem unnecessary. For instance, updating passwords regularly or logging out of devices when not using them for work are things that are easy to brush off but they can heighten security risk.
"By their very nature, these extra security steps should seem redundant," he says. "But that's because if you're doing them, you should never encounter an issue with leaked data."