Now that so many businesses have moved to a remote workforce, the need for better laptop security is higher than ever before. If your employees are free to roam with a company laptop, you will want to make sure that these tips are followed. A knowledgeable IT tech professional such as Interlinked Technology Services here in upstate NY, can help make sure that your team is setup securely and efficiently.
- Encrypt your Wi-Fi.
WPA2 is widely accepted as the strongest encryption method available and it should be setup for use on both your office and home networks. This helps to keep unwanted visitors off your network. - Update Antivirus & Firewall.
Endpoint security is incredibly important to protect “roaming” users on laptops. Using an Antivirus and firewall will help prevent malicious software from accessing your private network. Equally important is to make sure both are kept up to date with the latest software updates. - Use a VPN.
A VPN is a virtual private network that provides end to end security and encryption of all traffic from a laptop. This will allow you to confidently access your work files while travelling and using public Wi-Fi. - Encrypt your hard drive.
If your laptop is lost or stolen it is not difficult for someone to pull all the data off it, even without your login information. Most laptop hard drives contain sensitive data that should be protected from this sort of situation. The solution is to encrypt the hard drive so that if the laptop were lost or stolen, the data could not be accessed. - Password protect.
While it may be nice not to have to remember a password to login to your laptop, not having one setup is one of the worst security practices you can do! Ensure that you are using a password to protect the login on the laptop so that only YOU can login to it. - Lock the screen.
Equally important as setting up a password is locking the screen when you are not on the computer. This prevents someone else from using your computer if you walk away for a few minutes in a public location. A quick way to lock your screen is to press the Windows Key + L Key. Additionally, set a lock timer so the computer will automatically lock when not in use. - Backup your data.
Backing up of data is the most important way to protect what is saved on your laptop. You should always ensure that you do not keep all your documents only on your laptop, be sure to back it up to an external hard drive or to the cloud! This will allow you to recover those files if the need arises.
We can help you secure your laptops and remote users for everyone in your office. Give us a call today at 518-712-1110 or shoot us an email at info@interlinkedit.com