If you’ve ever been robbed in a public place, you’ll know all too well the feeling of horror that ensues. For the remote worker on the road, that horror increases exponentially with the realization that you’ve lost your work, your colleagues’ details and data, your stored access passwords, and so on.
With your computer, that thief may also be able to access your and your contacts’ personal details, your online banking and payment accounts, email accounts, and other accounts on sites through which you may purchase goods, store sensitive data … the list just goes on! Read the rest of this entry »
There are a lot of things that a web worker needs in order to be able to do his or her work: a computer, an Internet connection … a post office box? While it’s not absolutely required in order to get your online work done, having a P.O. box can make a lot of sense. Read the rest of this entry »
Consider the following scenario: An employee leaves your company or a virtual team member moves on, and the circumstances have been less than ideal. What do you do to make sure that you keep your company’s (and your clients’) confidential information safe, when someone who is no longer on your team might still have the passwords to the apps you use?
When it comes to collaborative tools such as project management apps, you can usually apply different levels of access to each team member. Still, have you figured out what to do when someone from the team departs? Read the rest of this entry »
Employers are increasingly concerned about the risks to their data security posed by telecommuting employees. As a telecommuter, your ability to discuss and address those concerns is important, to make sure that you’re allowed to continue telecommuting, or to convince an employer to let you start telecommuting in the first place.
Data Security Basics
The biggest concern for many employers is just how safe their data is. An employer can put some very specific safeguards in place in an office environment, controlling just who has access to specific computers, and so on. But it’s reasonable for an employer to be a little worried about just who has access to their information at your home. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, I wrote about WatchDox, the security application that allows you to secure and track the documents you send online. The company behind the app, Confidela, has just moved the app to a fee-based model (free accounts are no longer available). As of this week, you can test out the application for 30 days for free before selecting either the Pro version (for the individual) or the Business version (with additional features). Existing individual users are grandfathered in and can retain their free account but still have to upgrade if they want the features available in the Business account.
Some new features on all the paid accounts include the denying people the ability to take a screenshot of any documents sent through Watchdox. I tested this out by trying to take a Skitch screen grab of a protected document, and it immediately went into “curtain” mode, blurring the content. Read the rest of this entry »
I had two friends complain that they received Facebook invitations from me today. I don’t remember sending those people invitations, and I never invite anyone to a social network without talking to them first.
My friends forwarded the invitations to me. They were dated yesterday, and the headers indicated that the messages were from Facebook servers. There have been recent reports of phishing scams aimed at Facebook users, though, so I changed my Facebook password, even though I don’t have any evidence that my account has been compromised.
But then I started thinking about all of the places that could potentially have access to my address book. My “master” address list is in the Mac Address Book app, but it’s synced to my web-based Google Apps contact list, and to the Thunderbird address book on my PC laptop. It’s also synced to my Palm Treo smartphone.
I’m pretty careful about passwords, and I respect the privacy of the folks in my address book. But I’m always trying new services, and it seems like everyone wants their site to have a social component. So the list of places that might have access to my address book is appallingly long. Read the rest of this entry »
Every so often, a new app hits my radar that gives me that “Wow! Awesome! Right On!” feeling. Launching into public beta today, WatchDox by Confidela is such an app. If you want to share a document securely with someone, WatchDox can do that. But it also does much more, namely letting you specify permissions on the document, such as the whether it can be printed, copied or forwarded. Then you can track all the activity of your document so you can see all the places your document has been sent, by whom and when, who opened it and when, who printed it and when — a complete document activity audit. Yet its features are practical, sensible and uncluttered. Read the rest of this entry »
When working on-site, it’s reasonably easy to maintain your employer’s or client’s confidentiality. But what about security in your home office? OK, so your dinner guests aren’t likely to be covert operatives for your employer’s largest competitor, angling to steal company secrets between the appetizer and the main course. But some employers are extremely eager to ensure that remote workers are geared up to protect their confidentiality. Are you?
Some contracts will spell out confidentiality requirements, and some jobs come with a clear non-disclosure agreement attached. But what if you don’t have a written explanation of what your employer or client wants? Here are the crucial aspects I considered in making privacy my priority. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve ever been robbed in a public place, you’ll know all too well the feeling of horror that ensues. For the remote worker on the road, that horror increases exponentially with the realization that you’ve lost your work, your colleagues’ details and data, your stored access passwords, and so on.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
