How to maintain your safety when downloading and using apps in the workplace

As technology consumers themselves outside of the office, your employees are very used to using and downloading apps on their personal devices. Some of those apps can come in very handy in the workplace as well, so you should make sure you have a solid plan for how to keep your company data and the security of your team members front and center in an app-centric technology environment.

Here are several steps you can have your employees take to make sure they are not putting themselves or the company at risk when accessing a popular app from the office.

Avoid repeated use of passwords

As we’ve seen several times in recent years, the use of the same passwords for personal and professional accounts is a real problem. The same passwords used across multiple different accounts and the use of easily guessed passwords is still one of the top entry points for hackers to gain access to personal or sensitive information. If your employees are guilty of the common sin of using the same password for their corporate accounts as they do for their personal accounts, you are leaving your company exposed and vulnerable to the same level of security that their personal accounts support.

Take the Dropbox and LinkedIn hacks of recent years. These corporate attacks were facilitated because users were using the same password on their personal accounts as their professional ones. It’s not enough anymore to have just one strong password. Your employees need to be one step ahead of the bots and cyber criminals that are focusing 100% on how to gain access to your system.

Avoid uploading unencrypted photos

Photos are a concern because they expose personal identification information (PII) including users’ real names, locations, employment, and education details. While not only important to maintain personal and professional security, more governmental regulations both in the US and abroad are requiring organizations to identify and protect this type of sensitive information to stay in compliance. The effects of a data breach of one of the popular dating apps could be devastating, resulting in unwanted exposure, release of personal information, and identity theft. So make sure your employees know the risk of photo sharing, even on familiar apps and services.

Protect login information

Certain apps are particularly guilty of practices that allowed researchers to gain login information, log into accounts, and send messages as another person all within the app itself. This was most effective for Android users, as there are free apps available on the platform that allow hackers to break into the phone and become a superuser. The hack can then give the superuser full access to dating app accounts, message viewing abilities, and any other function that could result in leaked data. From a corporate perspective, this is especially dangerous because the vulnerability can provide hackers with easy access to corporate email, data, and networks if the mobile device is unprotected.

The bottom line is that your employees should know the risks of using unsecured applications on the same device that they use for work. Help keep them in the know and keep your company protected.

For more advice on how to store your information conveniently and securely in the cloud, connect with the team at Happy Faces Records Management.

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