Cybercrime and data theft have been on the rise for quite a while. With businesses big and small moving their entire work culture online to align with a stricter following of the SOPs, cybersecurity has become even more of a concern.

With global losses concerning cybersecurity totaling just over a dizzying $1 trillion—showing a 50% spike since 2018—businesses now more than ever need to look out for themselves and bolster up their online security.

While the work from the home model may have been an effective and efficient one, the model comes with certain loopholes that make it riskier than working in an office while directly connected to the office network.

One of these concerns was the apparent security risk while accessing any confidential information or files. With hackers on the hunt for more and more information they can exploit and 88% of global organizations encourage the work-from-home culture. With hackers on the hunt for more and more information, they can exploit at any given time so it has become even more imperative to practice caution to the nth degree.

Remote working tips to work-from-home safely.

There can never be enough security that you can practice online. If you’re looking for some solid work from home advice, here are some of our top remote working tips for employees and teams to make sure your business operations run smoothly and safely from anywhere in the world.

Choose trusted networks to connect

They say being safe is better than being sorry. That may feel like ancient advice regarding cybersecurity and the risk of losing data; being safe is better than falling down the deep hole of irrecoverable damage.

Choosing a trusted network to connect with is one of the most important remote working tips that need to be considered. Avoid public networks like the airport or your local cafe to keep your hackers and snoopers from getting into your data.

If you have to use one of these networks, a great remote working tip is to use a VPN to hide your original IP address and make sure you’re surfing anonymously.

Use an antivirus

Want to work from home effectively? Another one of our top remote working tips is to use antivirus software. This software acts as a protective shield for your device, keeping it safe from malicious viruses, ransomware, spyware, trojans and rootkits. These software programs are written to detect if a virus has entered your device and eliminate it.

Working as a prophylactic, it can not only get rid of a virus but can also prevent it from infiltrating your device again in the future. Not only does this make using a reputed antivirus program one of the best remote working tips you can practice as it can safeguard your device but can also prevent data loss at the same time.

Use a password manager

Here is another one of our favorite remote working tips! If you’re a business, a password manager can help add an extra layer of security to your work-from-home model for two reasons. One, it can help you create and remember strong, secure passwords. Second, it can also let you pass account access and specific credentials to team members without risking security.

This doesn’t only apply to businesses and employees though, even if you are a freelancer or work as a solo consultant, investing in a password manager is one of the most straightforward yet powerful remote working tips that you can effectively follow.

Not only do these allow you to pass credentials around, but they also make it much easier to set unique and strong passwords to all your different accounts. This is paramount if your accounts contain privileged information because if you reuse the same passwords, in case of a data breach, all your accounts could be in danger.

Most password managers even let you store secure notes and debit or credit card information so that you don’t forget it—making these little tools one of the safest, quick and efficient remote working tips ever.

Use a VPN

There’s no question about the level of security a good, professional quality VPN tool can provide to a work-from-home work model. As one of the top professional secure remote working tips, a VPN tool will hide your original IP address, lend you a temporary, pseudo­-IP address and ensure that your browsing and online activities are private.

This will take you off the radar of snoopers, hackers, and even your own ISPs (internet service providers) and will make sure that no one can trace your device, let alone have access to it, hack it or steal classified information from it.

Another thing a VPN does, making using one, one of the prime remote working tips, is that it encrypts your communication with the internet. This means that even if a hacker manages to intercept it, the data they will receive will not make sense unless they have a decryption key.

Secure your Wi-Fi at home

One of the most common ways for hackers to access your devices and data is through Wi-Fi networks. Contrary to popular belief, Wi-Fi networks can not only be hacked but can also be used to gain access to every single device connected to that Wi-Fi.

This means that if your Wi-Fi network gets hacked, the hacker can easily access mobile phones, laptops, PCs, tablets, printers, everything connected to that Wi-Fi connection. Securing your Wi-Fi is one of the most crucial things to secure remote working in order to prevent any of this from happening.

Most reputed VPNs come with a dedicated client that can be installed in a router to ensure all connected devices are safe to use.

Use secure email services

When we say that everything can be hacked, we mean EVERYTHING, literally, that everything can be hacked, which brings us to another highly important one of our remote working tips: use secure email services!

How many times a day do we share some information using email? And how much of this information we share is supposed to be confidential? Client documents, financial reports, project progress reports and even code!

Using non-secure email services could mean that you’re running the risk of a hacker intercepting your emails and potentially using this data against you every single time you send or receive an email.

Using secure email services can protect your sensitive information during communication and prevent attacks like phishing, spear phishing, and email spoofing. This is one of the remote working tips that can save companies thousands of dollars in damage recovery as emails are a popular medium to spread of ransomware, worms, spyware, social engineering attacks, and other types of malware.

Enable two-factor authentication

If you aren’t already using two-factor authentication, greater online security is a good enough reason to start now! Two-factor authentication is an access grant methodology where you’re only allowed to access an account or information after you’ve provided two pieces of evidence that you’re authorized to access it.

Using methodology on all your accounts can greatly reduce the risk of you falling victim to cybersecurity attacks, scams, and risks. These could include phishing emails or even malware or ransomware scams.

Two-factor authentication gives you an added layer of protection because even if your attacker does manage to get your passwords, there is still a chance that he doesn’t have access to the second bit of information, which is, in most cases, a code that is sent to your cell phone.

Keep your operating system up to date

Even with the help of supported operating systems, more often than not, there are considerable delays between the detection and acknowledgment of a security vulnerability and actions taken to counter it.

Most operating systems like Windows keep releasing new and improved patches to cover these vulnerabilities. These updates resolve existing security issues and loopholes, making your device much more secure. Keeping track of system updates and installing them on your device will make sure that your machine is less likely to get hacked into, which is also one of the simplest of our remote working tips—not to mention free!

Encrypt your devices

It pays to encrypt your devices. If you haven’t already done this for your employees, there will never be a better time than now to start looking into it. As the final of our remote working tips, encryption plays a massive role in making your devices and communication secure.

It prevents unauthorized people from accessing your device without your special code, PIN, or fingerprint. You can use several applications to encrypt your device depending on the operating system that you’re using.

What should you do next?

Now that you know our top secure remote working tips, here’s what to do next:

• Introduce these tips to your employees, teammates, or just your solo business practice to ensure greater security.
• Make sure that you’re signing up for professional quality tools and services to avoid data loss and data theft and maintain the integrity of your business information.
• If you’re looking for an all-in-one security solution for remote teams, reach out to our team here to request a free demo of PureVPN for Business.

Remember, cybersecurity isn’t just a trend. The right security measures could protect you and your business from losses worth millions of dollars. Think smart.

Explore PureVPN for Business here.

Got more working for home tips for successful remote work model execution? We’d love it if you could share in the comments below!