IT Advice

It’s not uncommon to be working from home these days, although the need for safety is no less crucial. When you’re working from home, there’s another means of being safe you should be concerned with: online security.

You might think you know everything about online security, but there are still loopholes for cyberattacks if you’re not careful. Read on to find out our Orlando IT company‘s advice on how to stay secure when you work from home.

Staying Secure While You Work From Home: Cybersecurity

Keep Devices Separate

There’s a difference between losing personal information, and losing company information. While both can be damaging and costly, you can reduce the risk of both coming under cyberattack.

If you have a computer designated for work, and another for personal use, keep it that way. Don’t use your work PC for personal activity, and vice versa. It can be a hassle but if only one is under attack, at least the other can remain safe.

Don’t Dismiss Updates

If you’ve been noticing update notifications, don’t dismiss them. Sometimes, updates are just to enhance the user experience of the software or device. However, many times, these updates also include patches and updates for security purposes.

Even if a company doesn’t advertise a security flaw, or have a major breach, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. These updates are to prevent those security problems before they occur.

Get Your Passwords in Check

If you’re like most people, updating your password doesn’t happen nearly enough. While many cybersecurity experts recommend changing your password every six months, few of us adhere to this rule.

One reason we don’t change out passwords often enough is because in this day and age, it can be difficult to keep track of all our different passwords. A good, secure password manager can help you with this.

On the topic of passwords and different accounts, you might be using the same or similar password(s) for most of your accounts. This is a major cybersecurity risk.

If a hacker gets one of your passwords, chances are that they can get into your other accounts too. Don’t use easy, personal passwords. The best passwords are more complicated strings of letters, numbers, and symbols. Again, if these are hard to remember, using a secure password manager can help.

Secure the Physical Area

Not all data is compromised through remote attacks. If you have devices with valuable personal or business information stored on them, keep them in a safe place.

Nobody wants to imagine a break-in, but thieves often steal computers, phones, and other devices with sensitive information. Make sure you always know where your devices are, and keep them in a secured area.

Reconsider Two Step Authentication

It can be annoying when you have to enter a code from your smartphone to access an account on your PC. However, every extra step you have to take to log in is another shield from a cyber attack.

Even if a hacker or thief gains access to your computer, they won’t be able to access your accounts without having access to your phone as well. It works both ways. Even if your phone is stolen, thieves can’t get your information or make purchases unless they have another way to verify your identity.

Stop Ignoring Your Anti-Virus Software

Does anti-virus software seem like a thing of the past? It shouldn’t. A solid firewall and strong antivirus software is your first line of protection against cyber threats. Use a reputable software, and keep it updated!

Conclusion

Staying safe when you work from home has a lot to do with keeping your information secure. Remember, keep your devices separate, use strong passwords, and do everything you can to make it hard for hackers to steal your information. If it takes longer for you to log in, it takes them longer to attack too.

Deciding whether to outsource IT services in Orlando or build your in-house team can be difficult. There are many pros and cons for both and depending on your business, you may lean more towards one more than the other.

In order to know which is a better option for your business, let’s take a look at the benefits and the disadvantages of both.

In-House Team Benefits

There are several benefits to putting together your own in-house IT support team. Perhaps the most prominent of these benefits is that they will know your system more intimately. They’ll also be familiar with your business’s daily functions and programs.

With an in-house team, the cost of service will be predictable. You won’t have surprising fees pop up and you’ll know where your money is going as you’ll have a lot more control over the team processes.

In-House Team Cons

One of the cons of hiring your own in-house team is that you’ll have to pay your team even when they aren’t actively repairing or working on something. Whether they are on an hourly wage or monthly salary, there will be times where there’s not a lot of IT work to do. This is just the reality of how IT support works.

Another disadvantage of an in-house team is that they won’t have the means to do everything. While your team may be well equipped, there are some things they just won’t be able to do and you’ll find yourself having to still outsource the work while also paying your in-house team.

Alternatively, there may be times when there’s too much work for your in-house team to finish in a timely manner. In other words, having an in-house team doesn’t allow you the flexibility of increasing or decreasing your team resources easily.

There may come a time when you need the expertise of someone not on your team. In-house teams can have limited expertise fields and when a very niche problem comes up, they may not have the skills or expertise necessary to deal with it.

Outsourcing Benefits

With outsourcing, you’ll have access to a team of skilled professionals without having to pay all of them a regular salary. You won’t be paying extra for a consultation from someone with very niche expertise when you outsource to an IT company.

When you outsource, you’ll also find that because these professionals work with many other businesses, they’ll know what will and won’t work for your company.

They’ve tried and tested several methods and thanks to their broad experience, they really do know the best way for solving a certain problem. You won’t be as limited to what your own personal team can or cannot do.

Outsourcing Cons

When working with an outsourced team, it’s common to have fears or doubts about what’s going on. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re being kept in the loop as well as you think you should be.

Since outsourced teams work with other businesses, you might feel that they’re not entirely focused on your needs. However, choosing a reputable IT support company will be beneficial here. A good company will have adequate resources and good customer support to attend to all their clients’ needs.

Conclusion

Outsourcing your IT support can save you money and open up possibilities. With more access to a wide variety of fields and skilled professionals, you’ll have more support and cost-efficiency than if you choose to build your own in-house team.

As people subscribe to more online services like social media and such, a lot of personal information is held online. Now more than ever, passwords are integral in keeping that information safe because of the threats and risks that are associated with data leaks and malicious cyber attacks. See these tips from the best Orlando IT support team to keep your password secure.

Tips on Keeping Your Password Secure

Since passwords remain a primary source of security and protection for the personal information of many people around the world, here are some tips to help keep your password secure.

Longer Passwords

Creating longer passwords is one way of making a password more secure. Most websites even require a minimum character count for passwords (i.e., websites usually require a password at least 8 characters long). The reason for this is that longer passwords are basically more difficult to crack, especially when it comes to cracking passwords through brute strength.

Longer passwords mean more combinations of random characters, making the password inherently stronger.

No Personal Information

One thing many people tend to do is create a password that is associated with their personal information such as birthdays, nicknames, and such. Understandably, people do this to make their passwords memorable for them. However, this is such a common trick, making it easy to use your personal information as a way to break through your passwords.

As much as possible, it would be best to use words that are not associated with you at all.

No Real Words

Real words are another tactic that people commonly use to help them remember their passwords. Understandably, a password that consists of an actual word is way easier to remember than a string of random letters and numerals.

However, it would be even better to create passwords out of a random string. If you have ever tried a password generator, this is the type of password that it would suggest. Not only should you create a random string of numbers and letters, but remember to throw in some symbols as well.

The use of a variety of characters helps strengthen passwords. Some websites even require a mix of a minimum of three different characters including uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Use Different Passwords

A common mistake is to use a single password for every online account you have. It is essentially putting all your eggs in one basket. No matter how strong your single password is, it will always be dangerous to use it in every single account. It’s like having one key to all the doors in your home.

Having one password in all accounts makes it easier for hackers because all they need to know is one password to access all your other accounts.

Change Passwords Regularly

When was your password last changed? If you haven’t changed your password since you first created your account, then it’s probably time for a change.

It’s best to even change your passwords every quarter, especially when those passwords are protecting very sensitive accounts such as online bank accounts and other accounts that may be connected to your credit card such as online shopping accounts.

Use a Password Manager

If you are terrible at making strong passwords and remembering them, then consider using a password manager. Password managers are specialized software that holds all your passwords, automatically signs you into online accounts, and even suggests new passwords for when you are creating new accounts.

If you don’t want to use their suggested passwords, they usually come with the ability to evaluate whether your password is strong or not.

Conclusion

Complicated passwords might be difficult to remember but they’ll protect you more than you realize. Having an easy password will risk your personal information to people with possibly malicious intentions such as identity theft. Follow these tips to make your passwords a little stronger and make your data a little safer.