By Rick Boyles, President, Computer Networks, Inc.
’Tis the season when you and your team in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, or Suffolk will be taking a little time off to head to the beach or your favorite vacation spot, and while we know we should completely disconnect from work, most of us will still check company e-mail and do a little work while away — and that could end up causing some issues if you’re not careful while working remote.
So before you head off to have a little fun with your laptop tucked under your arm, keep this in mind: never automatically connect to “any available network.” Not all Internet connections are secure, so if you’re going to log in to the company network, e-mail or other critical cloud apps that are hosting sensitive information, ONLY do so on a trusted, secured WiFi and NEVER a public one.
As part of our computer network services tips, we recommend investing in a personal MiFi device that acts as a mobile WiFi hotspot IF you’re going to be traveling a lot and accessing company info.
Second, turn off the ability to automatically connect for all of your mobile devices and laptops. You will still be able to connect manually to your business in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, or Suffolk, but it will prevent your laptop or device from connecting to a questionable network without your consent or knowledge.
Finally, disable all printer and file-sharing options on your mobile devices. This is another way hackers can gain access to companies.
In an ideal world, you and your employees would take a true break from work, but if they aren’t able to completely detach themselves, then at least require them to stay safe using the above computer network services tips.
About our Computer Network Services and IT Consulting Company
Our computer network services company was founded in 2004 by Rick Boyles. Our typical customer has 10 to 150 workstations, is a small business or medical practice, and relies heavily on e-mail, the Internet, and their computer network for running their business or medical office. Clients hire us to provide HIPAA Security Risk Analysis, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Network Administration, IT Consulting, and more. They do not want to incur the overhead and cost of a full-time IT staff, and they do not want to risk their IT to a self-taught employee who knows “a few things” about computers. We serve medical offices and companies in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Hampton Roads, Virginia.