There’s a long list of things to do before you head out of office for a vacation or the holiday season. With the hustle and bustle of the end of the year, meeting deadlines and tying up loose ends is just as important as setting up your IT for success while you’re away.
Don’t ruin your vacation bliss by coming back to work greeted by viruses and cyber attackers. Unfortunately, hackers take advantage of vacation seasons by exploiting slow response times, unsecured Wifi networks, or by sending phishing emails. Implementing company-wide cybersecurity practices is essential to keep your systems safe. Enjoy your days off stress-free. Know the signs of a cyber threat and take the necessary steps to ensure your IT infrastructure is secure while you’re away.
Review Your Password Security
Whether you’re leaving for a week-long vacation or out for a day, your password should be a complex and strong combination year-round. Going out of office is a good reminder to review your passwords and update them if they fall short of cybersecurity standards. Your passwords should be complex, using uppercase and lowercase, 12-14 characters, and include numbers or symbols. Ensure all of your passwords are strong enough to combat possible hackers while you’re away. Are you taking the proper precautions to keep your accounts secure? This may look like:
- Passphrases over passcodes
- Complex passwords
- Two-factor Authentication
Update Your Software
Outdated software can leave you vulnerable to hackers and ransomware. Preventative maintenance can not only extend equipment life and save you costs down the line, but it also helps prevent cyber threats, especially in a remote work environment. Regularly updating your software can involve security installations and firewall implementations that will keep attackers at bay while you’re enjoying time offline.
Spare the Details of Your Vacation
A common but seemingly innocent mistake often made is the automated email response that tells the recipient you are out of the office from December 20 to December 27 on vacation in the Bahamas. When it comes to automated out of office emails, the more general, the better. Filling in your team and related clients with the dates you’ll be gone and who to contact in your absence is appropriate, but announcing your away time to anyone who emails you isn’t necessary and can leave your company vulnerable to phishing attacks and hackers.
To protect your cybersecurity while you’re away, an alternative response avoids exact dates, internal information, and personal information. You might say, “I’m currently away from my computer. I’ll respond as soon as I can, thanks.”
Educate Your Staff
Training your staff is crucial to keeping your IT secure. If your staff doesn’t know the cyber threats that exist, they won’t be able to properly prepare for them. Exact IT offers several cybersecurity training courses and tools to educate and arm your staff against threats like ransomware and phishing emails. Safeguard your data this holiday season by investing in cyber security training.
Remote and hybrid environments are more susceptible to cyber threats because of their presence online compared to an in-person setting. If your organization operates remotely or will be partially for the holiday season, ensure your infrastructure stays secure and continues to operate smoothly while staff are away with our IT management checklist for remote work. Ensuring every component of your infrastructure is secure is a time-consuming task. Allow yourself to focus on finishing Q4 strong, refer to our checklist, and outsource your IT management to maximize cybersecurity efforts year-round.
Keep Your Mobile Devices Secure
If your staff checks emails or work notifications on vacation, ensure they do so from a secure WiFi network. Don’t bet on secure WiFi at a hotel or resort. Even if it seems secure, there’s no guarantee. Invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) this year if you haven’t done so already. VPNs encrypt the data sent to and from a device via their network. VPNs provide another layer of privacy and security from hackers attempting to steal sensitive data. Researching and finding a high-quality VPN will protect your data from anywhere, even when your staff isn’t in the office.
Stay Secure This Holiday Season with Exact IT
As we prepare for our time out of office and the excitement of the holidays, we must also plan for an increased risk of cyber threats. Exact IT is a managed IT services organization dedicated to innovative technology solutions tailored to each organization’s needs. We offer several cybersecurity training courses, including a free ransomware email training course. Combat cyber threats this holiday season and year-round with Exact IT.
