Bezpieczeństwo pracy zdalnej a odpowiednie programy antywirusowe

Security of remote work and appropriate anti-virus programs

The growing popularity of remote work both in Poland and in the world affects the need to remind employers and employees about the importance of appropriate antivirus programs on the computers of people working at home. The risk of leakage of important data in this case is very high, so the employer should make sure that his employees use properly secured computers. Where to start?

Remote work threats for the company and the employee

Remote work was supposed to be a rescue for many companies in situations where employees cannot freely come to offices, but it turned out that apart from the undisputed benefits of this form of work, it also carries many dangers . Employees’ home computers are often not as well protected against the risk of data leakage as corporate computers, and they are the weakest link through which hackers can access valuable information.

 

Many employers initially assume that their teams can do exactly the same at home as in the company, but using their own devices: laptops, smartphones, tablets or simply desktop computers. These, however, often have much weaker software, and the anti-virus programs installed in them are far from the company’s perfection. In order to minimize the risk that customers’ personal data (protected by the GDPR), financial data or other valuable information will fall into the wrong hands from such computers, it is worth taking care of their proper security from the very beginning. At this point, the main task belongs to the employer, who can decide on some good solutions.

How to secure a remote employee’s computer?

The first option is for employers to provide a company computer to the employee’s home so that he can use proven and safe equipment during his daily activities. In addition, it is worth asking an IT specialist to check in advance whether the anti-virus program installed on such a device is up-to-date, whether it does not require any corrections, updates and improvements. This solution definitely guarantees the highest security of data contained on the computer.

The second solution may be to purchase appropriate security systems for the employee’s private computer. They can be both popular and proven antivirus programs reputable companies as well as specialized systems from the so-called a second desktop, thanks to which the employee can separate what he does on his computer for home needs from what only applies to the company. Such a second desktop should be provided with an appropriate password, thanks to which you will avoid stress when children or other household members also use it.

Dividing a private computer into separate partitions for business and home use also guarantees its better operation and practically eliminating the fear that someone from tenants will accidentally delete priceless data from the disk. Important note: the password for such a separate dashboard should be financially responsible only for the employee and it is worth including this fact in his contract regulating the rules of remote work.

Hackers are everywhere! What do antivirus programs do?

It is absolutely necessary to remember that the old safe days of using the internet are a thing of the past. Currently, hackers are very fond of company data and can use it in a million ways that ordinary users are completely unaware of .  This applies to both personal databases, e-mail addresses, bills, invoices, and a number of other confidential information, the leakage of which could expose the company to huge losses. Special antivirus programs are created precisely to minimize the risk of making it easier for a hacker to get inside the computer. Today, the creation of such programs is supervised by entire IT teams, which do not stop at designing just one antivirus program and selling it without further updates.

They know very well that hackers keep coming up with new ways to bypass security and practically never stop. For this reason, the best anti-virus systems are constantly being updated. It happens that the program may require updates several times a week on average.

Such frequent updates prove that the IT specialists of a given program ensure that the security of their system is constantly at the highest level. At this point, an employer hiring people remotely and allowing them to use proprietary hardware or anti-virus software itself must alert employees to the need to perform such updates.

According to the licenses and guarantees provided by companies selling antivirus programs, the system’s efficiency and its actual effectiveness depend on regular updates. Employees performing their duties remotely must be fully aware that the security of corporate data on the computer will also depend on their actions and quick response to messages appearing in the system.

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