Keep your guard up. As more people work from home, they could be exposing themselves to viruses and other online dangers that might not threaten their physical health but could put their business at risk. Individuals who don’t have the support of an IT team may be more vulnerable to scams. To protect your business, follow these tips from tech coach Burton Kelso, owner of Integral in Kansas City, Mo.
Ensure strong internet and Wi-Fi connections. Check your internet speed at speedtest.net. Download speeds lower than 30 mbps could lead to problems accessing an office’s virtual private network, cloud storage service, or videoconference calls. To increase Wi-Fi speeds at home, consider add-ons like Google’s Wi-Fi “mesh” router system, which can blanket an area with a stronger signal, or TP-Link’s Powerline adapter system, which turns the electrical wiring inside walls into an Ethernet network. When working remotely, use your phone as a mobile hot spot if your plan allows it. Whenever you have to log in using free, insecure public Wi-Fi, enable a VPN service, such as TunnelBear or NordVPN, to keep your data more secure.
Set up automatic data backup. Use a cloud-based product to protect your business from data loss, using such companies as Carbonite or BackBlaze (both cost about $83 a year). For Apple devices, you can use iCloud. Google Drive and Google Photos offer cloud services for PCs, Android, and Apple devices.