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In the home office, it can be worthwhile to double-check the mails and calls from
Photo: Andreas Martini / c't
Solid workplace
Secure your home office computer using the latest technology.
This includes regular operating system updates and a virus scanner.
Because a virus attack at home can paralyze the entire company.
Only access the company network from your home office via an encrypted VPN connection and do not pass the access on under any circumstances.
Also, remember to secure your office or workplace: Small children like to press keys, the big ones may just discover hacking as a hobby.
You should therefore protect your employer's data particularly well when you are working from home: Do not pass anything on carelessly, delete unnecessary files and encrypt USB storage devices and hard drives / SSDs (especially for notebooks).
Protect the computer with a lock screen and password.
You do not dispose of defective storage media yourself, but rather through the company.
This is the only way to guarantee that sensitive information is permanently deleted and cannot be reconstructed.
Separate data
If you need to use your private computer to work from home, set up your own user account.
This is how private matters remain private.
The reverse applies: company data have not lost anything in the private account.
Also, do not access your cloud services such as Dropbox & Co. from your work account.
In order to separate professional and private contacts on the smartphone, you also work with additional user accounts, if possible.
Samsung phones also offer an isolated environment (secure folder) within an account, in which you can set up your professional contacts and apps separately from your private lives.
As an alternative for e-mails, contacts and calendars, mobile Exchange clients such as Nine from 9Folders are ideal - or access via webmail.
Avoid loss
Do not save important documents and data on your computer, but on the company server.
Backups are automatically created there and you have everything ready when you switch from home office to the company.
If data has to be saved locally, at least set up an automatic synchronization via backup software.
Avoid carrying documents back and forth on USB sticks and external disks if possible.
In this way you can eliminate a source of danger from the outset - for example, a medium accidentally being used privately or being disposed of at the local recycling center.
Videochat & Co
The biggest weak point in company IT is still people.
In the home office, your conversation partners are rarely across from you and colleagues who you could just ask for advice are not sitting next door - favorable conditions for cyber criminals.
more on the subject
Security checklist for WLAN routers: How to make your home network safeBy "c't" editor Dusan Zivadinovic
Home office: Ten tips for online meetingsBy Michael Leitl
Icon: Spiegel Plus Working hours, office equipment, tax advantages: Your right in the home office by Maren Hoffmann
Video chat participants without a camera can be colleagues, but also attackers: First ask them to activate the camera and restart the meeting if the ghost images do not disappear.
The email from the boss can be real or a phishing attempt: if in doubt, ask by phone.
Particular mistrust is appropriate for emails with "helpful" links on current crisis topics - such as short-time work, Covid-19 apps, etc.
By the way: the popular screenshots from video conferences can contain valuable information for attackers to either join the next meeting directly or to prepare for phishing attacks.
If you absolutely have to publish photos from the last meeting, hide sensitive data such as URLs, meeting IDs and the faces of the participants beforehand.
Safe line
Not everything goes perfectly straight away.
Sometimes a helpful tool to be productive is missing, sometimes the VPN is stuck, sometimes the computer goes on strike.
The quick fix on your own is not always the safest.
Therefore, stay in contact with the admins of your company even from a distance - and create a list of important contacts in case of an emergency.
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