While our concerns during this season of uncertainty with COVID-19 are top of mind daily, our natural priority is the safety and health of our families and those close to us. But many of us are business leaders, CEOs and managers who are also navigating the concerns of our workforce and the security of our businesses.

It’s no secret that attacks can arise when things are most vulnerable – both in a personal and  business setting. We must be proactive in protecting our offices, teams and especially those working remotely, to ensure our organizations stay secure during this time. Here are a few tips to keep your workplace safe and productive during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Stay Informed on Latest Cyber Security
On March 6, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released an alert reminding us of scams related to Coronavirus. See below:

Cyber actors may send emails with malicious attachments or links to fraudulent websites to trick victims into revealing sensitive information or donating to fraudulent charities or causes. Exercise caution in handling any email with a COVID-19-related subject line, attachment, or hyperlink, and be wary of social media pleas, texts, or calls related to COVID-19.

Further, CISA encourages individuals to take the following precautions:

• Avoid clicking on links in unsolicited emails and be wary of email attachments. See Using Caution with Email Attachments and Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Scams for more information.
• Use trusted sources—such as legitimate, government websites—for up-to-date, fact-based information about COVID-19.
• Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information.
• Verify a charity’s authenticity before making donations. Review the Federal Trade Commission’s page on Charity Scams for more information.
• Review CISA Insights on Risk Management for COVID-19 for more information.

Be Assured Remote Employees are Secure
With a large portion of the world’s workforce already working remotely, security threats have been addressed and minimized by many organizations prior to the Coronavirus pandemic.  As a reminder for IT professionals and businesses who outsource their IT, desktop access and network permissions should be password protected, and all PC’s should have active data encryption. Cloud access through a virtual private networks (VPNs) with encryption adds an additional layer of security for your employees and the business.

Secure Your Systems and Devices
With Fuse.Cloud’s Managed IT Services, we are proactively monitoring network security for those customers who have implemented our Managed IT solution. This means we already have installed the latest networking hardware and software, and all company-owned devices are secure against malware, ransomware and other threats.

Ideally, most organizations would have Fuse.Cloud Managed IT Services or an IT staff member putting proactive virus and firewall protection in place. However, if your company isn’t doing this proactively, now is the time. Remote working can, at times, increase risk of threatening activity for end users. Feel free to contact us if you’re interested in adding this service.

To read more on why the cloud is critical for managed services, read our blog post here.

Cloud-Based Apps
When Fuse.Cloud implements managed services for a client, we upgrade all users to Microsoft’s Office 365, allowing everyone to benefit from the cloud-based features of the software. We recommend having cloud-based apps in place – especially your primary ones that the entire team of employees use on a daily basis – to make unforeseen circumstances like what we are now experiencing with COVID-19 not quite so overwhelming. If your company is not already using cloud-based apps and VPNs for remote or traveling employees, both should be priorities for your work environment.

We’ve all learned that an unexpected crisis can happen at any time. It’s our job to keep our customers – and friends – informed on best practices and things you can implement now  to be sure you aren’t caught off guard in the future. If anything, this pandemic has taught us that being prepared in our own businesses is critical for allowing our teams to function seamlessly and work without interruption.

For more information about how to best work remotely with VoIP technology, read our blog post here. Or, for questions about any of our tips above, contact us here.