Cybersecurity Best Practices for Remote Workers in Africa

Remote work has a lot of benefits, (some highlighted here) and as with most operations, these benefits come with their own set of challenges. Cybersecurity is an integral part of remote work, and neglecting to take the utmost care while working poses several consequences to your work as a remote worker. 

In this article, you will be exposed to best practices that can help you in your job and keep your company's data safe as a remote worker in Africa.  

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Best practices in cybersecurity for remote workers 

1. Use a strong password for every account; ensure your password is a mix of symbols and letters; the letters should include both lower and uppercase cases. Avoid using important dates or birthdays as a password. Your password should not be easy for someone to guess. 
2. Enable multi-factor authentication: multi-factor authentication is an extra layer of security for your account. This would ensure that even if someone was able to get access to your password, they cannot gain access to your access without verification from you. For instance, a code sent to your phone. 
3. Keep your devices and software updated: Be sure that your devices and software that you use for work are up-to-date. Updates often have changes and improvements on them that protect the user and also improve the performance of your devices. 
4. Connect only to a trusted network or WI-FI: As a remote worker, you could find yourself working in a public space. Avoid connecting to public hotspots, as they tend not to be safe. Your passwords, emails, and work can be hijacked by a hacker through this means. If it is a must, consider using a virtual private network (VPN) to protect your data. 
5. Secure Your Home Network: Your personal router should have a strong password and also enable the most secure network encryption. Be careful who you share this password with. At all times, ensure that your router's software is up-to-date. 

1. Be on high alert for phishing scams: avoid clicking or downloading unknown or unverified links in your emails. This is a hacker tactic to gain access to sensitive data on your device or to install malware on your device. 
2. Backup Your Data Regularly: As a remote worker, a major part, if not all, of your work data is in softcopy. Data loss can happen at any point, and the best way to prepare for this is to regularly backup your data to an external hard drive and a cloud service. This way, if your work device crashes, you can always get back your important files. 
3. Educate yourself constantly on cybersecurity: it is your responsibility to educate yourself on the threats that each software you use in your work poses to you and how you can avoid them as well as defend against them. 
4. Secure Communication Tools: Some data and information need to be encrypted before sending it electronically. Ensure you make use of safe communication tools such as messaging apps and email services that encrypt messages to prevent data leakage. 
5. Limit Access to Sensitive Information: Beware of places where you make use of your work devices and ensure you don't have anyone peeping when you input sensitive data like passwords or read work-related emails. 

Cybersecurity practices may seem like a difficult task at first but as you engage them in your work, it will come naturally to you. You would always be ready and alert for any threat that might want to tamper with your job. Always reach out to your organization's IT team whenever you encounter a problem with your work devices instead of solving it yourself. By putting all these in place, you can guarantee your work would go seamlessly.