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As a business owner, you will need to provide computers to your employees for very obvious reasons. While you do so, you will expect them to follow certain rules in the workplace and even when they work remotely. The objective of these rules is to make sure that employees do not end up wasting time or losing productivity doing something other than work. Cybersecurity is a bigger concern because certain activities on work computers can open up corporate data and networks to cyber risks. Hence, it becomes important to have clear policies about what you wouldn’t want the employees to do with their work computers. Let us share a checklist that can help.
Web browsing
Depending on their roles, employees will need to access the internet but make it clear that they stick to work while browsing. With a variety of apps and social networks out there, it is easy to get tempted. Using employee monitoring software helps as it lets you track the websites accessed and time spent by users on different apps. It can even take screenshots and log keystrokes of the users.
Personal emails and messaging
Another thing that employees should steer clear of is sending across personal emails and messages through work computers. As a rule of thumb, they should never use the work email account for personal use. While logging into one’s Gmail account from the same device may sound convenient, it isn’t an ethical practice. The same goes for messaging apps for personal use because these habits can be time-wasters.
Storing personal data
The last thing you would want on the company devices is the personal data of the users, whether it is their documents, photos, or passwords. Even if they have been doing it, ask them to clear them from the system and avoid the practice ahead. They can back up photos on mac to iCloud and then delete from the device, without having to worry about losing them permanently. Personal data on business computers doesn’t make sense for the users because there is always a privacy risk, so this is the last thing they should do.
Connecting personal storage device
Although you may trust your employees, there is always a risk of being conned by people with malicious intentions. Make sure that you do not allow them to connect personal storage devices to office machines, no matter how harmless their intentions may be. They may end up stealing confidential corporate data. Even if they don’t, there is always the threat of malware from the external device infecting the computer or even the entire network.
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Accessing public wi-fi
When employees work remotely, there are chances they would access free public Wi-Fi when out of office. This is a practice they should avoid because it can compromise the confidential information and data that belongs to your business. Enforce the use of a VPN as a rule whenever the employees need to access company data and files from a remote location.
It is important to have clear policies related to the use of work computers and convey them to the employees right from the day they join your organization. A little care can save you from big hassles.
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