2016 was a banner year for hackers and 2017 looks promising as well. More and more, companies are beginning to feel the painful and embarrassing effects from data breaches, ransomware and the like. In order to avoid a costly data clean-up in 2017, now is a good time to perform an employee handbook review tips and consider whether some of your information technology policies need updating.
Specifically, some of the areas to review address the following issues:
- weak passwords,
- BYOD (bring your own device) issues,
- and internet usage.
Many employees use one password for every corporate software application they use. Some also tend to use very simple passwords such as “1234” or “password”. Companies need to let their employees know that using simple passwords or repeating passwords is opening the door for a potential data breach or successful ransomware attack.
More and more, companies are also allowing their employees to use their own personal smart phones and tablets to perform company tasks.
Although this is a great convenience for employees, it also opens businesses up to viruses, malware or security breaches if the employee’s device is not adequately protected.
Businesses need to decide whether they want to continue to allow their employees to use their own devices, and if so, the employee must agree to use recommended anti-virus software and strong passwords on their devices.
Companies need to ensure their employees are not surfing the internet and visiting questionable web sites. Visiting less than desirable web sites makes companies vulnerable to malware and viruses.
Employees must adhere to professional standards when surfing the internet while at work. In order to enforce this, companies can install tracking software to monitor the internet usage of their employees.
For more information about employee handbook review tips for the upcoming year, please contact us.
