The holidays are times for people to come together, even in these incredibly stressful times, so you’ll want to make sure that you are taking all the necessary precautions on both a personal level and a technological level. Here are some ways that you can keep yourself safe from a technology perspective this holiday season.

Be Cautious of Your Internet Connections

When traveling, it’s extremely important to know how secure your web connection is. Places where tons of people gather, like airports and hotels, are known to have cesspools for Internet connections laden with threats of all kinds. You never know what is lurking on wireless networks that are not secured by the same precautions found on your own in-house network. For times when this is not possible, we recommend using a virtual private network to create an encrypted tunnel between your device and your company’s network if you are going to do work while traveling.

This is a little different than those consumer-based VPNs you might hear about on commercials for podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. These services, like NordVPN, TunnelBear, ExpressVPN, and others aren’t inherently designed for businesses to use as a VPN. However, these services typically do have some merit when traveling, because they encrypt your data that gets sent over Wi-Fi. This can offer a layer of protection if you do have to join a public network. Keep in mind though, you get what you pay for. Most of the free VPN services, even when they claim they don’t store any information about you, tend to store information about you. 

If you want to discuss specific use-cases with us, we’re happy to answer questions, or help equip your business with a professional VPN for your entire staff to connect to securely. Just give us a call at (415) 295-4898.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication and Location Services on Mobile Devices

We know that you don’t want to think about losing devices, but it’s important to take measures to ensure that doing so does not put the data on your devices at risk. Solutions like multi-factor authentication and location services can help you keep your devices secure even if they are lost, and they can even give you an idea of where to look for a device in the event you don’t think it has been stolen.

Implement Data Backup

While you’re at it, you should also implement data backup services so that you don’t lose any data located on these devices in the event you have to remotely wipe them or are unable to locate them—after all, airlines have been known to misplace luggage on occasion. It never hurts to be prepared. In general, it’s a good idea to have data backup; you never know when you might need it, even without someone stealing your phone or laptop.

Wherever your travels take you this holiday season, know that 415 IT has your back! Make sure you follow our blog so you are prepared to handle any technology situations you come across this holiday season.