Home Cybersecurity Checkup

Summary

As many people began working from home as concerns for the COVID-19 pandemic grew around the country, no one knew how long they might have to continue to work in these new environments. Several months in, and it is still unclear when a full-time return to the office will happen. The speed with which businesses and organizations were required to provide their staff with the ability to work from home makes it possible that some security protections were cast aside in favor of making services readily available. This, coupled with the use of home Wi-Fi networks and personal devices to conduct business, makes it vital, now more than ever, that everyone takes steps to ensure they adhere to cybersecurity best practices in order to lower the risk of a cyber incident that impacts the confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability of data or services.

Recommendations

The NJCCIC encourages users to follow the instructions and recommendations in the NJCCIC technical guide Configuring & Securing a Home Wi-Fi Router and follow cybersecurity best practices, including keeping hardware and software updated, running anti-virus/anti-malware on all devices, using unique and complex passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication where available, updating passwords if a data breach occurs or account compromise is suspected, refraining from clicking links or opening attachments in emails from unknown senders, verifying requests from known senders, maintaining physical security of devices, and reviewing and applying the recommendations in the NJCCIC post How Big is Your Footprint?.