A silhouette of a woman working at her home office during sunset, with her computer screen glowing and a smartphone on the desk, indicating a remote work environment.

More of us are working from home than ever before. While that can be great for reducing commuting and spending more time with the family, it also means bringing your work home.

If you’ve set up a home office, you’ll likely have all kinds of confidential and sensitive company information. It could be on your laptop, personal phone (which you now have to use for work) or physical documents. This is why taking a few basic security steps is important to protect this information and your business in general.

Upgrade your antivirus software

One of the most likely ways corporate data will be illegally accessed, stolen or compromised is through your laptop or computer. Your usual home use of antivirus software may not be adequate to protect it. You may need to look into more heavy-duty professional packages.

Sweep your laptop and phone for malware

It’s easier than you think for someone to access your phone through malware, especially if you ever use public Wi-Fi networks. To make sure your devices aren’t compromised, use security software

Sweep the room for bugs

Suspect that a competitor may be spying on you? You may not be being paranoid. Corporate espionage happens constantly, and accessing confidential information from an employee’s home office can be much easier than a security-heavy city-centre office block.

Radio frequency (RF) bug detector, you can sweep your home office for all surveillance or listening devices such as cameras, voice recorders or other bugs. Likely, you won’t find anything, but at least you’ll know for sure.

Buy a shredder and a lockable filing cabinet

Invest in a decent paper shredder if your business uses paper documentation and you need to keep it at home. You never know who’s going through your bins or where your discarded documents may end up. Another home office essential is a fireproof, lockable filing cabinet to keep all paperwork safe.

Check your insurance policy

What would happen if a fire broke out at your home? Your family’s safety would be your priority, and you wouldn’t (and definitely shouldn’t) be rushing back to save company paperwork or equipment. But you may still be liable for losing anything business-related stored at your home, so it’s a good idea to check your home insurance policy to see if you’re covered.

Password protect or lock your devices

It’s recommended to keep work and personal devices separate but remember to protect all work-related phones, tablets and laptops with a password or fingerprint ID, even if it’s just to stop your toddler from accidentally calling a client!

Secure your home Wi-Fi

If you’re relying on home broadband for work, you could be vulnerable to hackers if your connection isn’t secured. Double-check that you have a strong password for the network, and consider changing it occasionally.