Although many people in the UK work from home normally, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen those numbers increase enormously, as everyone tries to adjust their working lives to fit in with the Government guidelines where possible and avoid non-essential travel.
Working from home comes with its own challenges, and one of these is how to ensure that whilst we are working from home, we still protect confidential data.
Although when we are working from home, we may feel more relaxed in our home environment, it is crucial that we still follow the guidelines that we have in place in the office. When at home in fact it is important that we pay even more attention to them as the likelihood of a security breach is higher at home, so remember to be vigilant and always consider whether you are doing your best to protect data.
Using passwords is more important when working at home, particularly as you may have other family members sharing the same device. Make sure that anything that you have is secured with a password and that the password is strong and not easily guessed by nosy family members!
Paper copies of data must also be protected – Use a confidential shredding service to dispose of any important documents that are no longer needed and keep all sensitive documentation locked securely away, do not just be tempted to leave it out on the dining table, for example, or put it in the general household waste when finished with.