Keeping Business Data Safe While Your Employees Work from Home

The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting a series of challenges for every business. Many organizations are struggling to keep their data secure while their staff is working from home. In this blog, we offer tips for maintaining security for your information while your employees work from home.

Document Protection

Transporting hard copy records to and from work and printing corporate documents at home presents a security risk. Employees working from home should continue to maintain a chain of custody for paper records with personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI). When these documents are not being used, they should be stored in a secure area. A “clean desk” policy should apply to home offices as well as company facilities.

Records Retention

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has altered many aspects of the workplace, maintaining a robust records management policy is still important. Make sure your employees continue to follow your company’s policies and procedures for handling sensitive paper records. They should maintain record retention schedules according to state and federal requirements.

Online Security

Remote working means more online meetings and video conferencing. Hackers are exploiting security lapses in many popular video conferencing applications. Your employees should take the following steps to keep their online meetings secure:

1. Update the firmware and software on your device before each meeting
2. Use a unique ID for each meeting
3. Require participants to use passwords and/or PINs to join meetings
4. Login with virtual private network (VPN)
5. Activate meeting host approval before participants can join
6. Disable guest screen sharing

Whether The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered the workplace remains to be seen. Following these tips will keep your data secure while your employees work from home.

Final Disposition of Paper Records

Despite our “new normal,” the law still requires secure final disposition of paper records. Partnering with a shredding and destruction provider who offers drop-off shredding can help support the continuity of your document disposal program. Provide your employees with a plant-based, drop off shredding resource to keep information secure. Your shredding provider issues a Certificate of Destruction your document destruction project is complete.

For more data security tips, please call us at 706-724-7982 or complete the form on this page.

Records Management Center provides businesses throughout Augusta, Evans, Thomson, and Martinez, GA, Aiken, SC, and the Central Savannah River Area with professional shredding and destruction solutions.