COVID 19 – Working from Home

Last night I got an email from a client that all their office staff had been mandated to work from home starting the next morning. The basics were in place the firewall with VPN was set-up. Now we had to include more staff using the VPN from their home PCs. Technically setting up the VPN is easy, but there is always more than meets the eye. Setting up the VPN is literally the tip of the iceberg.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection allows you to securely access your company’s data through the internet. It also allows for data transmission from a trusted source to come into the network. The issue with home PCs is that they may be compromised with a virus or a key logger. While we are practicing social distancing, someone with an infected PC could easily infect all other users at work and home on their secure network.

COVID-19 is not the only virus we have to be worried about. Before we connect a user to the network we want to make sure that they have current anti-virus software. If not, we will install a remote monitoring agent and anti-virus software on the end user PC. Installing anti-virus ensures that remote PC is secure and there is no gateway into the company network. Installing a remote monitoring tool allows us to determine if there are any other technical issues with the PC that may impede the staff’s productivity while working at home. The remote monitoring reports if there is a technical issue with the PC. Once the PC is safe then it can be connected to the network.

What happens to all the work you do at home? Is it safe? What happens if you lose your PC? Arrangements should be made to ensure that your hard work is securely backed up. If the work is not automatically stored back on the company servers the solution may be as simple as backing up to a public service like drop box or one drive. Security concerns may require the use of an enterprise solution.

Now that your work from home is secure, what are you going to do to replace your co-workers stopping by your door or hanging over your cubicle wall for a question or a chat?