Protect Your Employees

Protecting your company online begins with making sure your employees are prepared to assist in keeping your computers and network safe. Simply put, the best security technology in the world can't help you unless employees understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding sensitive data and protecting company resources.

Let your employees know their responsibilities, beginning with how they handle potentially sensitive information. Employees should know what they can and can't take home (company laptops, etc.), what they can and can't do with company resources, and what, if any, role they have in making backups and using security technology.

Among other things, employees should be advised about:

Keeping good password practices. Choosing the right sorts of passwords, changing them routinely and keeping them under wraps are among the easiest and most effective things your employees can do to protect your data.

Emailing safely. Employees should know not to open messages or attachments from unknown sources. Employees should also be instructed about your company's spam filters and how to use them to prevent unwanted, dangerous email.

Backing up their work. Whether you set your employees' computers to backup automatically or ask that they do it themselves, employees should be instructed on what they have to do to ensure their work is protected.

Keeping computers clean. Your company should have clear rules for what employees can install and keep on their work computers.  Make sure they understand these rules and abide by them. Unknown outside programs can open security vulnerabilities in your network.

Staying watchful, and speaking up. Your employees can be an early warning system against attacks that may strike your network. They should be encouraged to keep an eye out, and say something if they notice anything strange happening on their computer.  

Please feel free to download and print out these workplace posters to help remind your employees about safe computing practices.