How can a Virtual Assistant take care of the Company’s Data Security?
Today for many of us, our homes have transformed into our workplaces, and returning to our old offices seems highly unrealistic for now. Such a transition has profound implications and changes have to be made accordingly. Companies that practiced remote culture previously have undeniably not undergone as big a change as compared to the other companies which were not as familiar with the model. But one thing which is imperative to conclude in this scenario is that now as more people have started working virtually, the concerns of various organizations regarding Data Security have grown like never before.
Companies are hiring more remote workers and the data is subsequently being shared through the means of cloud services. In such a situation, collaborators working with the company often raise concerns about how protected their data will be. For instance, the vulnerabilities found in Zoom, the video-conferencing platform have been so grave that hackers could get access to a Zoom user’s Mac.
Smart leaders around the globe have taken some crucial steps to safeguard their businesses and have taken their data security practices a notch higher. These practices need to be adopted by all organizations. For starters, running background checks, checking the employee’s history before hiring them, and getting NDAs signed are two essentials, but are no longer competent in today’s world. Today, the steps you can take to protect your company have to be more tech-savvy and judicious.
The organization should most importantly make sure that each individual’s system is free of malware. The devices should be virus-free and should be scanned regularly to detect any spyware. Only a few trusted people should be deployed on high priority projects.
Employees should be using their own web connections which are encrypted and secure. VPNs, virtual private networks must be used but not totally relied upon as they are a small yet significant part of the rigorous regime. HTTPS(Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and SSH(Secure Shell) which are much more secure than HTTP should be the protocols used.
For all sorts of communications, apps with end to end encryption should be used. Emails that contain sensitive information should be encrypted by the means of email encryption extensions like Flowcrypt. It’s also crucial to train your employees as a part of the onboarding process to promote security awareness. Updated systems help in avoiding vulnerabilities and make your systems securer. Hence, it’s very important to be working on updated systems for every individual in the organization. As a part of the training process, employees can be shown how phishing emails and unsecured websites can hamper the safety of their system.
The most unbelievable truth is that regardless of us having so much sensitive information, we still put very weak passwords. This blunder should be avoided at all costs!
Remote work has the capability of transforming the future. Long journeys often have a few obstacles in between. If one makes sure of defeating them, the end result is not only highly rewarding but also full of contentment. Similarly, concerns associated with data security can become a barrier, but a virtual assistant can easily overcome them while delivering the best results to their organization.
Written by Pragya Sabharwal for The Growup Group
