Stay safe and secure at home while you’re making money in your pajamas
The home office has become more and more ubiquitous now that business persons like yourself can get high-speed Internet access to the home, and can now easily stay in touch with video conferencing and email. Home offices have also been useful for the salesperson whose schedule means that time at their home must be multi-tasked between family and ongoing business matters. While many employers and employees rush to take advantage of the personal flexibility that home-based work allows, don’t leave the doors to the (home) office unsecured. Residences have always been targets for burglars, and they are also easy prey to network crimes since many homeowners don’t use the same kind of computer and network security they would if they were in a traditional business environment. Make sure you also think about fire safety since the kitchen is just a room or two away. The best way to examine your home office security is to assess it on these three levels:
- Home business insurance.
- General home security and fire safety.
- Computer network security
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Install a home security system
A home security system is a must, especially if you’re protecting business equipment and business data in addition to family members. Expect to pay at least $1,000 for a simple home security system and budget another $30 or so for monthly monitoring costs. If your home office is accessible on the ground floor, talk to the sales or system design representative about extra intrusion protection for that area.I recommend: Brink’s Home Security and ADT are still the biggest names in the business, but many local independent alarm dealers offer exceptional service and a community presence. Consider upgrading to a system that may also offer peace-of-mind such as remote access for system management. You can even add water sensors (for leak detection)—not a bad idea if your office happens to be in a converted basement.
Reconsider your locks
While security systems are great for your security, don’t underestimate the value of a good lock. Especially if you’re increasing the importance of your home by hosting business information there, you need to make sure you have good quality locks. Make sure the door to your home office is also lockable, and not just with the quality of lock used on a lockable bathroom door (which is more for courtesy than real security).I recommend: If your house doesn’t have a deadbolt on all exterior doors, call a locksmith right now, or if you’re handy, run down to a store like Home Depot or Lowe’s or Menard’s and buy a quality unit. Fire chiefs aren’t fond of ones that require a key to exit, but that’s an extra deterrent to a would-be thief because it makes it that much harder to exit with stolen goods. Just make sure that all family members have a key at their fingertips in case of a fire when a fast exit is required.
Examine your home’s fire safety
It’s a no-brainer that you shouldn’t overload your electrical system, even if you need a fax, a PC, a scanner, a server, a reading lamp, an external hard drive, a large monitor, a copier, a paper shredder and a coffee machine in your home office. That’s one part of fire safety, but also make sure you have good quality smoke detectors and equip your office with a small fire extinguisher to protect your business.I recommend: Kidde is a trusted name in residential fire protection and can deliver everything from fire extinguishers to smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Professional quality smoke detectors from Honeywell can be networked in such a way that your security monitoring company can also monitor these devices. They will need to be professionally installed.
Insure your home office
The insurance industry is quite candid: Standard homeowners insurance may not sufficiently insure your home office. Many insurance contracts have a specific rider defining how much they will pay out based on home business losses or liabilities. Many limit their losses to $2,500.I recommend: Look into a specific insurance program developed for home-based businesses like State Farm’s Business in the Home policy. These types of policies can offer business-type insurance needs like business continuity insurance, business liability and more. Trusted Choice has some excellent information on how a home-business policy differs from a standard home insurance policy.
Itemize your office purchases
Because your office may be covered to some extent by your employer’s insurance or by your specific home-based-business policy, you’ll need to create a list of your home business assets. Be very clear on what is being used for your office. Not only include all the essential office items like a computer and file systems, but think about furniture like a bookcase that may have once been solely for personal books but which now houses your business books. In summary, if you use something even partially for business, make sure it is listed in your inventory and include a value (a receipt is great) and a description.I recommend: A receipt scanner from Neat Receipts is a great investment because it converts your receipts into a digital file that you can save on your computer. Be sure to back up that computer file of your business expenses in case it gets stolen. Quicken makes a useful Home & Business software kit that is helpful for tracking your expenses. Those records are good to have if you ever suffer a major loss.
Virus protect your computer
Today more than ever, office security is about computer security. Load up your computer with anti-virus protection, and an anti-spyware/adware program. This is especially useful if a spouse or kids might be jumping on your PC when you’re not looking. Make sure to update it constantly to get all the latest virus definitions.I recommend: Avast! is a great anti-virus system that’s received favorable responses from corporate IT staff, and they even offer a free version for home use. Also consider a product from Symantec and McAfee to fight viruses, worms and Trojan horses. Windows Defender is a free anti-spyware program developed exclusively for Windows-based PCs.
Password protect it
Passwords are simple to use, hard to remember and, well, very useful for simple data protection. It’s a must if you can’t lock up your home office. They can be used on a macro level (lock down the entire computer) or at a micro level (lock down individual files. If your kids do their homework on the same computer you use to manage your business, you should set up different users who have different access to unique segments of the PC.I recommend: Microsoft will allow you to protect individual files—such as those on Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel—and has information on how to do that here. Microsoft Windows, the most common operating system on all home PCs has built-in password protection that is managed through the User Accounts function on Windows XP (and presumably handled similarly in the new Vista version of Windows). Macintosh computers running OS X have a similar system (here’s how to change or reset your passwords). Mac OS X users who have the time may also consider buying a thorough book on Mac password protection like Joe Kissell’s Take Control of Passwords in OS X.
Shred it
Home offices produce proprietary information, just like any business. Protect your privacy and that of your customers by shredding unnecessary documents.I recommend: Drop somewhere between $30 and $100 for a paper shredder, like a Fellowes personal unit. You can browse models at stores like Office Depot and Staples as well. While you’re at it, consider a software for “shredding” old data on hard drives like HP’s StorageWorks Data Shredder Software. CyberScrub is another provider of full data destruction software.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- If possible, try to arrange your office so that only you need to enter it and that it’s not also doubling for other home functions. This lowers your level of risk.
- Having a dedicated computer for work, and another for all other home functions is ideal if your budget allows for it. This means that your teenager won’t be surfing the wide-open Net on the same machine that you depend upon for tracking sales.
- Make sure that all the electronic devices and peripherals are UL-listed, as this means they meet insurance-company standards for quality and protection.
- If you’re using a wireless router for your home network, make sure it is password protected. An unsecured network is an invitation to a hack, made all the more problematic if that router can be used to access your computer’s business files, not just your daughter’s MP3 collection.
- With more and more executives working from home, consider asking your company’s IT director/consultant and security director/consultant to give you advice on securing your home office. They may have developed best practices for home and home office security.
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