Coronavirus & Working From Home

123

As concerns about the spread of Coronavirus increase, we’re reaching out with a brief update to let you know how the Solutions 4 IT team is preparing and planning to provide uninterrupted support during this time.

Our staff are continuing to work normal business hours. Our team is carrying on normal business operations, and has the resources and tools they need to do their jobs from any location. We’re carefully monitoring and considering advice from government and health officials in the communities where our employees live and work, and we will continue to support our customers and normal business operations.

Our Staff will continue to provide consistent and reliable support from 8am-5:30pm (5pm Fridays) GMT.

As a company and as individuals, we are committed to positive action during this time. We will continue to send updates if needed as the situation evolves. In the meantime, we encourage you to follow cdc.gov for the latest Coronavirus updates.

Your business: What you should be considering with technology

Firstly, we sincerely hope that both yourself and the staff at your company are not affected by the epidemic.

Should you be impacted by the epidemic and assuming that your staff are not too ill to work, the main issue that you will have is how to work from home remotely whilst maintaining security of data. Consideration needs to be given for how you will access all of your key systems, including, but not limited to:

• Email
• Company File Data
• Business Applications
• Telephones

In the first instance, we recommend that you consider what your business continuity plan is for such an event that prevents your staff from attending the office. Consider how your staff will access those key systems and continue to service your customers remotely if necessary. For those employees who already have the ability to work from home remotely, it is worthwhile advising that they test any remote working systems now – including VPN, VOIP handset twinning and call forwarding – to ensure that you are prepared. By planning in advance we are able to assist you with any technology concerns now. Please contact your account manager or our support desk to request assistance in your planning.

Security Advice:

Targeted phishing attacks are likely The COVID-19 epidemic presents a perfect opportunity for hackers to focus on a current event to exploit public perceptions and concerns and to try and gain access into your computer systems. As such, it is likely that we will see an increased concentration in phishing attempts using COVID-19 as a cover. Our advice as always is to be vigilant and carry out the following checks for each and every email:

• Verify the sender by checking their email address

• Check any links before you click them. Hover over the link to preview the URL, and look carefully for misspelling or other irregularities.

• Be careful when providing personal information

• Even if a message or a letter came from one of your best friends, remember that they could also have been fooled or hacked. That’s why you should remain cautious in any situation. Even if a message seems friendly, treat links and attachments with suspicion.

• Messages from official organisations, such as banks, tax agencies, online shops, travel agencies, airlines, and so on, also require scrutiny. Even internal messages from your own office.

• If you discover a phishing campaign, report it to the bank, the support desk of your social media network, or whatever other entity the phishing message claims to represent. Reporting really helps in the pursuit of cybercriminals.

• IF IN DOUBT, DO NOT OPEN IT AND DO NOT FILL IN ANY PASSWORDS

Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to your business.

Yours Sincerely
Andy Fletcher