How to secure your work devices

If you have a job involving your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, then the chances are that you will pose a security risk if you don’t protect it sufficiently.

This might sound like an exaggeration, but it is true.

Cybercrime is on the rise, and although you might imagine you know what a dodgy email looks like or what a hacked password can lead to, the reality is far worse.

As cybercriminals evolve alongside society’s increasingly tech-savvy workforce, their weapons become far more sophisticated. Old-school phishing scams, written poorly and easy to spot from a mile away, have given way to incredibly detailed cons that anyone can fall for.

What’s more, you likely store more information on your work devices than you think. When you are accustomed to handling various projects, firing off countless emails, and sharing private company information with your team, the sensitivity of this data can be overlooked.

If this sensitive information was to fall into the wrong hands, the results could be devastating to the company you work for.

To help, here are a few useful ways to secure your work devices:

Use Cloud Security

One of the best ways to secure your work devices (and, more specifically, the information stored on them), is to use advanced cloud security systems.

While your phone will likely have a safe storage functionality built-in, this is no guarantee of security. Moreover, it might not be the most useful place to store the information, which negates the point of having this function.

Instead, stick to secure cloud storage.

By using cloud security platforms, which are specifically designed for corporate organisations (including a CASB or cloud access security broker), you will find it far easier to stay safe on your devices.

There are many reasons for this, but it primarily gives your company full visibility of the applications you are using and protects any sensitive data behind a virtually impenetrable silo.

To find out more about cloud security, click here.

Educate Yourself on the Dangers of Cybercrime

Another fantastic way to secure your work devices is to ensure you know what the threat is you are fighting.

This solution sounds weak compared to a cloud storage system, but it is vital.

The reason is that many cybercrimes rely upon the victim being completely ignorant of the scam’s intentions.

If you receive a phishing email, you are unlikely to open it if you can already deduce the tell-tale signs of a scammer.

Therefore, educate yourself on the most common cybercrimes, how they work, and what they typically look like. This will give you an automatic defence against being successfully scammed.

Keep Private Information Off Your Device

It might sound blindingly obvious, but the less sensitive information left on your devices, the less chance of a cybercriminal stealing it.

Do your best to keep data on memory sticks, external hard drives, and cloud storage applications where possible.

Of course, ensure these are kept safe and you always have full visibility over them.