Working from home? Follow Centre's tips to stay protected from cyber threats

Covid-19 has brought radical change in all spheres of our life. It has even changed the way we work, with remote environment being the trend. A work from home set up allows us to work as per our comfort. But it also comes with challenges, including cyber safety issues.

The threat becomes manifold if we are working with data which is confidential and leakage of it would cause hefty losses.

The Ministry of Home Affairs notified a list of security tips while working from home to ensure a safe work environment from the comfort of your home.

On Tuesday, the PIB India Twitter account sent a video message alerting followers to the security tips. It tweeted, “Are you on WFH? It can be relaxing, But, remote work usually doesn’t have the same safeguards as office‼️ Beware! Fraudsters can dupe your personal & professional data. Follow these simple tips & ensure a safe work environment in the comfort of your home!”

Six security recommendations were made in the message to ensure a safe working environment while working from home. Additionally, it stated that while working from home can be reassuring, there aren’t quite the same security measures in place as in the workplace. So it warrants utmost care and attention, otherwise fraudsters can easily defraud him or her of both personal and professional information.

The ministry’s six security recommendations include:

1) If possible, utilise personal hotspots or home Wi-Fi connections rather than public Wi-Fi.

2) Employ a VPN to connect securely to data

3) Using antivirus software and up-to-date operating systems

4) Consistently backup your data.

5) Altering the router’s default password and examining the DNS configuration

6) Use a password manager and multi-factor authentication