5 Security Best Practices for Workstations
Hopefully you haven’t yet needed to face the intense frustration of being infected with malware. As in most cases, it may take hours to completely detect and delete all malware-affected files on a system. For this reason, many IT professionals prefer a “clean install,” which starts by erasing the drive and replacing everything on it. The downside of a clean install is that all information not backed up to an external drive or the cloud would be lost. Ugh! If only the workstation had been properly secured, none of this would have happened.
Well, you won’t need to worry no more, as here are five easy ways you can protect your workstation today and prevent possible problems.
Use endpoint security
A good endpoint security solution should protect your computer from viruses, malware, spyware, and network attacks. An anti-virus product alone is simply not enough nowadays. Some programs may appear useful but are spyware. For instance, a program that alerts you of discounts and deals, but also monitors everything you do online. Your endpoint security program should recognise that and disable it.
It’s also very important to ensure your security software is running and that you run weekly scans as a minimum. If it’s not, turn it on and run a full system scan immediately.
Update your software
Update your operating system, endpoint security, and programs regularly. On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases patches. If you update your own system, check then. If you have an IT professional manage your updates, they may test Microsoft’s patches before they apply them to your system, resulting in a delay.
Many security vendors also release new versions of their software every few hours, however these would normally be downloaded and installed automatically on your system to protect against newly discovered threats.
Additionally, applications, especially those that connect to the internet, are a way for attackers to access your system. Java and Flash, for example, release frequent updates to address issues identified with those applications. If you use an application keep it up-to-date, and if you don’t, uninstall it. (Check with your IT team before making any changes!)
Leave it? Lock it
You should never leave your device logged in while it is unattended. Never, as in not in your office at work, not on your desk at home, and not at your favorite local coffeeshop. Never. If you are walking out of sight of your device, make sure you lock or log out of it. On most windows systems, you can simply hold down the Windows key and press L to lock your system. You can also configure your system to automatically lock and logout after a few minutes when it isn’t in use.
Don’t share your device
Don’t share your device with anyone, unless your IT team specifically tells you to. If you are the only one who uses your device, you can keep it safe. If you give it to Sophie in Accounting, she may insert a flash drive which contains malicious files. If you loan your device to James in Marketing for a presentation, he might just present you with an infected file.
Whenever you share a file, share it on the company’s shared file system, whether in the cloud or on your server. Cloud services actively scan for problems, and your document server is likely to do the same.
To keep things simple: don’t share your device, ever! Unless stated by your IT team.
Backup your data
It is very important to backup all files and documents you want to keep. It shouldn’t be necessary to back up your operating system or applications, as your IT team should be able to easily replace and update them for you.
However, your data isn’t replaceable. That means your emails, documents, photos, spreadsheets, presentations, videos, all of it should be backed up.
Any file that matters to you should be backed up. Most IT teams would normally setup a simple cloud solution like OneDrive or SharePoint which will automatically save and backup any of your documents to the cloud. For any crucial documents and/or important company information, you may want to consider implementing a cloud-to-cloud backup solution.
Having a backup ensures your data is safe. In the event your device becomes infected, you accidentally delete a file, or your hardware fails, a backup can save you the time, money, and hassle of fighting against a corrupted system. You can get another device setup, logged in and start working on it again.
How well do you perform each of these five practices? What about your work colleagues? How well do they perform each of these practices?
