As most employees are now working remotely, cybercriminals have taken the opportunity to access unsecured data from individuals who need to improve the overall protection on their personal devices. This makes it more important than ever to be extra vigilant and make sure you are secure from cybersecurity threats, especially those directly targeting charities.
Now that most have settled into working from home and are happy with their set-up, it is a good time to remember the cybersecurity basics to ensure your charity doesn’t become a victim of any cyber scams and stays secure! Below are some key tips to staying secure;
Watch out for fake donation pages
Recently there has been a high increase in fundraising campaigns, so when you decide to give any donations to charities, make sure they are legitimate companies and are not phishing emails designed to harvest your credit card details and personal data. When receiving any emails related to this, treat them with suspicion, and double-check the sender’s address and the content very carefully. There have been many incidents when a cybercriminal has created a fake website that is designed to look like a charity – maybe even your charity.
Don’t get held to ransom
Many scam emails will contain, not only links to an unsafe website, but some emails also carry an attachment that will lead your data to be hacked once it is clicked onto. This ransomware which cybercriminals use is designed to encrypt all the files on your computer, the first thing you’ re likely to notice is a prominent message on your screen demanding payment to rescue your data. If you ever find yourself in this situation, please contact us
Keep information confidential
Most charities deal with sensitive information, whilst you’re in the office the environment will have been designed with this in mind. This means whilst working remotely, you must take into consideration that if you’re dealing with sensitive information that you should make sure that it can only be seen by you. For example, if you’re using a shared laptop, it is vital that you lock away the sensitive information at the end of the day, and that your screen isn’t visible to anyone else whilst you’re working.
Make sure your data is secure
GDPR enforces that all companies should keep their data safe at all times, this obligation still applies even when you’re not in the office. There are many solutions to keeping your data secure from Multi-Factor Authentication to using the Cloud to store your data. From just using these two solutions, it can prevent your data from being exposed to cybercriminals.
Stay in contact
If something doesn’t seem right or you’re unsure, it is very easy to ask for your colleague’s opinion whilst working in the office. However, whilst working remotely it is your job to keep the data you’re handling secure with no second opinions to help. Microsoft Teams is a great way to keep in touch with your colleagues, from instant messaging to team conference calls it is a simple and quick way to keep in contact with your co-workers at all times.
Cyber Essentials
The Cyber Essentials scheme is a Government cyber security standard, which organisations can be assessed and certified against.
How will it keep your Charity safe?
It identifies the security controls that your charity must have in place within their IT systems in order to have confidence that they are addressing cyber security effectively and mitigating the risk from Internet-based threats.
It provides you with clarity on what essential security controls you need to have in place to reduce the risk posed by threats on the Internet with low levels of technical capability.
