Home Office Safety and Security Week

Working from home can provide an abundance of benefits like being 2 feet from your coffee maker and getting to wear your favorite comfy pants daily, but there are some common draw backs that may not be as recognized. Most common we hear funny stories about a significant other being seen crawling on the ground in the background trying to avoid the "bigfoot" style walk, dogs barking at the leaves in the front yard, and a favorite of ours, kids performing the newest and greatest songs; all while we try to have an important Zoom meeting. But there are other things that we have taken for granted working at an office, mainly having access to full time IT and security departments.

Home safety and security measures are common and many are obvious. For example, having a fire escape plan and working smoke detectors make sense for every home. However, some safety measures have become more specific to those who work remotely, like keeping your computer’s firewall and antivirus software up to date and having strong passwords.

Each one of us has googled a topic in research efforts for work. And some of these searches lead to spam sites. Then we get bugs in the computer and before you know it the computer won't even start. Or the computer just decides it is too old of a model and no longer likes any of the software you need to run meetings or complete projects. And that is where we rely on our under appreciated IT departments.

This week we want to take a moment to thank all of our amazing IT workers who solve all of the "my computer won't start" problems. And also remind everyone that even if we don't have a team at our beck and call, we can take measures to make our lives and theirs less complicated.

• Remember always keep your passwords in a safe place.

• Do not save passwords to highly sensitive accounts on your computer

• Update your computer regularly

• Make sure all anti-virus ware is up to date meeting company standards

• Keep in touch with your IT team and make sure you are in full compliance with their procedures.

Here is to all of the IT and Cybersecurity workers! We see you! We appreciate you! And THANK YOU for making sure we can work safely from the comfort of our homes in our favorite comfy pants!