Sadly, we live in a world where people are preyed on by hackers for simply being human.
Our online behavior determines the risk and exposure of privacy invaded or even getting hacked. This, in turn, requires an understanding of why people fall victim to any sorts of attacks and exactly how attacks take advantage of the weaknesses in people’s online behaviors. It’s called the Suspicion, Cognition, Automaticity Model (SCAM). (will discuss this in the next blog post)
Another often-ignored factor involves the habitual ways people use technology. Many individuals use email, social media and texting so often that they eventually do so largely without thinking. And in turn media use becomes routine, people become less and less conscious of which emails they opened and what links or attachments they clicked on, ultimately becoming barely aware at all. It can happen to anyone, even the president.
Work computers are for work, though sometimes the lines blur just a little bit, so let us take a moment to help clarify what you should never be doing on a work computer.
10 Things You Should Never Do on Your Work Computer
- Don’t Use Your Personal Email
Personal email is risky when it comes to company’s computers. Do your best to keep your personal activities innocuous, as a mail could contain something inappropriate for work or a virus that could infect the entire office.
- Don’t apply for Jobs at Other Companies
This is very common in our “working-class society” nowadays whereby we spend half the expected working time to search for other jobs online. If you’re restless at work, job search on your own time on a personal computer. I urge you to respect the company and its policies as this is not only a breach of contract but also a data protection breach.
- Don’t check or update your social media accounts
Your social status is personal and therefore at all times avoid using any public device to access them as most of the ae very vulnerable and therefore upsetting the security protocols for your company.
Protect your personal information by being careful what websites you leave your personal details and ensure your social networking profiles are set to private (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.)
- Never Save Personal Files to Your Desktop
It may seem harmless to keep a few documents of your own saved to your work desktop but just don’t do it. At the end of the day, the company owns the content that’s on the computer, this means that legally, you may come across serious issues if any security-related issues are connected to your files.
- Don’t visit any Sites that against company Policies or watch disapproved content.
This seems obvious, especially since people are fired all the time for inappropriate searches, but there’s one thing you may not realize. It doesn’t take insane software to have websites flagged to HR with your name saying that you’re looking at this and it’s inappropriate.
Also, often than not there are valid reasons why companies deem some sites unworthy of their time as some possess a threat or breach of security (e.g. pornography sites).
- Suppress the Urge to Shop Online
Shopping online might seem as the most convenient modern technology has offered us. But while you may enjoy scouring the Web for cheap deals in the comfort of your office, your shopping accounts, and financial transactions could be compromised by countless prying eyes.
Now that data breaches, incidents of hacking and identity theft etc. are becoming more common, I, therefore, urge you to not use the company’s computer as this possess as a huge threat to it Information privacy.
- Don’t Have Personal Conversations Over Office Chat
We all love a good “hangout” channel office gossip or dishing on what’s going on with those two love-birds in accounts, but make sure to remember that everything you type is logged—so keep it all professional always.
- Lend it to a friend or family member.
Remember when you got the job you agreed to adhere to the company policies, this includes IT security policies. By sharing your work device, you are exposing the company to the potential risk of attack.
- Never download any software’s without IT admin approval
Keep your computer configuration current with the latest patches and updates and report suspicious activity to your IT administrator.
10. Never open any suspicious email.
Emails and online deals that look too good to be true, usually are! If you receive emails from unknown sources, then do not open them especially if they have attachments.