We hope that you’re staying safe and healthy, complying by public health rules and regulations, and doing your best to get through these tough times in good spirits. Many of us are going to be studying and working from home for a while even as things reopen. This means that we’re not only closer to our fridges and have more time to keep up with online challenges but also that we have to also be more conscious of privacy and security issues. It’s been tough making that adjustment – many people are finding it hard to get into the zone, find good places to work and get distracted by everyone else or other stuff going on at home. It’s getting harder to keep our academic, professional and personal lives separate and many of us don’t even know what the line is between these anymore. As though that’s not enough, productivity levels are dropping!
We want to help with some of these so here are a few simple tips to help you.
- Workplans and Schedules: Making a weekly workplan for work, school and personal goals is a helpful start. This could be anything from a simple three column to-do list on paper to an excel sheet – whatever works for you, is easy to update and follow is best. Beyond outlining everything that’s due, deadlines and all, you can assign hours each day or particular days of the week to help you create a routine or workflow. Knowing what ‘mode’ you’re in helps you focus and will also help you keep things separate. If it helps, you can also plan some play and rest time so you don’t feel it’s all just work, work, work.
- Workspaces and Hours: If you have other people around, decide on designated workspaces and times. Then let it be known, negotiated or decided as much as needed. Try to have your computer screen away from others’ sightlines to prevent anyone from watching behind you. If possible, get an anti-glare or privacy screen for your devices. Your digital spaces, privacy and security are linked to your physical. While working remotely, you will most likely become more aware of the physical elements that link you to the digital which makes it all the more important to be conscious of your workspace and have as much privacy as possible. If you can, set up your remote workspace to maximize comfort, efficiency and safety.
- Video Calling, Sharing and Collaboration Tools: Many mishaps have and will continue to happen with the increase in use of social networking, video calling, and collaboration software and tools such as FaceTime, Zoom, Slack and HouseParty. Having a dedicated physical space will make this easier but before jumping on an online meeting, class or other video call/conferencing, look around your surroundings and make sure that sensitive or personal items are not in site. Mute your mic or turn off video as needed when you need to move or talk to someone else in person or otherwise. Also note and/or ask if the call is being recorded. When sharing links and granting access to documents and collaboration spaces, be specific about who has access.
- Passwords and Password Managers: To access our accounts and information online, in the cloud or other virtual spaces, you often need a physical item – your devices, cards, even your fingerprint or facial features. Your digital security depends on keeping these physically safe and password protected. Using a password manager also makes this easier, more secure and more manageable. They help not only to keep the growing number of passwords you need every day but also to generate strong passwords.
- Use a VPN: A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps encrypt the data between your laptop and server. UBC offers a free VPN service to students, staff, and faculty members. It goes almost without saying but one of the safety threats when working from home is shared Wi-Fi and networks. In many homes, Wi-Fi passwords are still the default or have been shared to many guests. These are either easy to guess or have many known and unknown users. Default passwords should be changed. Using a VPN will also help make your network connection more secure. You can’t avoid using your personal devices and networks but you can make them more secure.
- Use Multi-Factor Authentication Everywhere: Commonly referred to as two-factor authentication, this is an additional security step that requires users to verify their identity at login using more than one method of authentication. For instance, using a password and code sent to your phone. This isn’t just for your work accounts but also for your personal ones – even WhatsApp which is now experiencing various hacks. Being protected on all sides helps stem information leaks.
- Backup your data: Data losses are so common ranging from forgetting to save that Word Document you’ve been working on for hours, to accidentally deleting a folder or your computer crashing on you maybe because it has less capacity than the one you use at work for the same task. Whatever the situation, you can’t always predict it. One way around this is using cloud services which are automatically backed up, as long as these are also protected using some of the other steps above (VPN, passwords, two-factor authentication). Another way is periodic backups on a hard drive – daily or weekly depending on your work load and systems. You however don’t want to be caught in a bad situation and lose a lot of data. Somehow, this always happens right before a deadline. Better to be prepared and not have to start from scratch.
- Software updates and reviews: Many of us have taken this opportunity as a chance for some thorough spring cleaning and this could apply to your devices as well. Be sure to go through the software and applications on your devices, uninstall the unnecessary, review permissions and update not just your apps but your devices as well. This could help protect you from unknown vulnerabilities.
- Where necessary, opt for encrypted communication options: Apps like Wire, Signal and Telegram are implementing more privacy and security settings in addition to end-to-end encryption. This is a secure way to communicate as messages are encrypted at both ends of a conversation and prevents any one intercepting the conversation from reading them. There are also encrypted email options as well. You might not need to use these for all communications but for sensitive conversations, or information transmission. You should also turn on the encrypted services and firewalls built in to your devices such as the Device Encryption on Windows PC and Mac FileVault.
Our Think Before You Ink motto is even more essential now. If you manage professional and personal online accounts, this can be an especially difficult time when you are prone to mistakes so be extra careful in checking and confirming what you are sharing, posting, and publishing online.
As always, use an antivirus, and stay away from phishing emails, unwanted, suspicious and unsolicited links. Also, remember that digital security is a continuous process.
Use private or incognito browsing.
Locked doors and drawers are great safety tools too! Keep your device in a safe place and lock your screen when you take a break.
Don’t leave notes and information lying around. Put things away as much as possible.
Stay safe and healthy!
Resources
- Working from home risks online security and privacy – how to stay protected | The Conversation 2020
- UBC INFORMATION SECURITY STANDARD #06: Working Remotely
- UBC IT Guide to Working off Campus
- Privacy Matters @ UBC: Work Remotely
Digital Tattoo Tutorials and Resources
Written by Eseohe Ojo
Edited by Samantha Summers
Feature Image: Laptop by DarkWorkX used under Pixabay License.
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