The pandemic meant many people were forced into working from home, and this had many effects that were not expected. One of them was that it left companies vulnerable to cyberattacks. Every year malware, insider attacks, and ransomware costs companies millions of dollars. If you are working from home, it is not just big business that has to worry about these types of losses. If you fall prey, it could cost you your job and your wealth.
Working From Home Perils
If you are one of the many workers who has found themselves working from home, and you like it, then it is time to get serious about an issue that many do not think about. One of the biggest worries for companies is that workers who are using their own devices might not be taking proper measures to protect them. If a worker opens that suspicious email or clicks on that cute kitten picture and downloads malware, they can transmit it to the company system in a millisecond.
Many companies issued company-owned computers to workers with strict rules and limits on where they could go on the web, but not all companies had the luxury of doing this. Now, some financial institutions have decided that workers can now choose to work from home several days a week. This means that the issue of vulnerability to cyberattacks initiated through workers’ home computers must be addressed.
Personal Risks for Workers’ Home Computer
Some workers excitedly waited for the day when they could return to the office full-time, but others have found that this new lifestyle is a perfect fit. If you are in the latter category, then it is time to start taking the vulnerability of your system seriously. If you were to be the victim of a cyberattack, the first thing that would happen is that you might not be able to log on and do your work. At worst, you might not even know your system is affected, and you could unknowingly transmit the malicious software to your company system where it could spread.
If this nightmare is not bad enough, the hacker could access your financial information, any passwords that you have stored, and bank account or credit card information. Now, they can access that of your co-workers and supervisors too. To make matters even worse still, you could be financially liable for losses to your company, which could wipe out your savings and leave you in a dire situation.
What You Can Do For Computer Security
Protecting your wealth is as important to your financial future as building it. This means that investing in software to protect your computer, phone, and other devices is an important step in protecting what you have saved. It is especially important for any devices that you use to log onto work.
Working from home also means that you must develop a different mindset when it comes to protecting your computer and financial future from attacks. You can no longer take a passive approach and need to have a solid plan for protecting your system, just as your company does. You are the one responsible for keeping your system safe. You need to view every email attachment, website you visit, and link you click on with suspicion. This might seem like a paranoid approach, but in today’s world, it is necessary to protect your job, interests, and assets.
Big business calls taking steps to protect their property and assets risk management. If you are an employee working from home, it is no longer your boss’s problem, but it is yours. You need to educate yourself and become computer security-savvy to a certain extent. In some cases, you might even be able to take off computer security software as a tax deduction, but it depends on your circumstances. If you are working from home, you need to consider security software as an investment in your future and financial health.