Hikvision Senior Director of Cybersecurity: Work From Home Tips to Improve Security and Reduce Hacks, Ease Concerns

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As we practice social distancing and self-isolation due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, many people are now working from home (WFH). Below are tips from Hikvision’s senior director of cybersecurity, Chuck Davis, to improve security, reduce hack risks, and ease concerns while working from home.

WFH Cybersecurity Tips
Learn about phishing attacks and expect them:

COVID-19 themed phishing attacks and malware are prevalent and increasing in numbers.

Use your company virtual private network (VPN), especially if you connect to a Wi-Fi network that’s not yours (neighbor, relative, coffee shop). The VPN ensures that all of your work traffic, and likely all of your network traffic, goes through the company network before it gets to the Internet. This means that all of the company’s security tools are working to make sure that your computer doesn’t get infected or attacked.

Secure your Wi-Fi. This is nothing new, but here are some high level tips:

Ensure you are using WPA2.
Create a good password for your network. Learn more by reading this Hikvision blog.
Enable a guest network for your visitors. Don’t give them access to your personal home network
FUN BONUS TIP: Make a QR code for your guest network. Print it out and put it in small frames around your house so guests can join your guest network without having to give them your strong password.
Do NOT hide your network SSID. This actually makes your network less secure.

Network segmentation is becoming as important for home networks as it is for business networks. If you have some extra time on your hands, it might be time to put your home IoT devices on a separate network than your regular computing devices. Read this article to learn more about network segmentation.

Password managers sound boring, but they not only make you more secure, they really help you organize your digital life. If you’re not using a password manager at home or at work, take some time to read about them. It will greatly reduce the likelihood that you become the victim of a hack or cyberattack.

Not only do you need to create great passwords and use a password manager, but anywhere you can, you should enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), also referred to as two-factor authentication.

Here is a link to an article with general cybersecurity tips for protecting yourself online, including whole disk encryption, patching, endpoint firewalls, and more.

Backups are a very important part of modern computing. We used to create backups in case of a computer crash or theft but today, they are even more critical because of the potential data loss from ransomware. Since ransomware will usually look across your network and encrypt your backup drives as well, it’s best to swap backup drives regularly or only connect them to your computer or network when you are doing a backup.

For additional tips from Hikvision to prevent hacks and cyberattacks, read this article: “Hikvision Senior Director of Cybersecurity on the Rise in COVID-19 Phishing Attacks, Plus Cyber Tip of the Week.”

Cybersecurity