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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Protecting Your Workstation


Many of us are comfortable with the people we work around and work with on a daily basis. We count on them to help us out with problems and tasks and we see them more than we see most of our family members. So we should be able to not worry about our computer workstation when we aren’t sitting in front of it right? Wrong.

The people we work with on a daily basis might be trustworthy, but what about the outside contractor that is fixing something in the office or any general person you don’t know that is in your office area conducting business? People of all kinds take advantage of the trust we have in an office setting. Maybe an unauthorized person sits down at your desk when you leave to get coffee for a few minutes? If you didn’t lock your PC, that person has access to everything you do on that computer. That could be your personal information and others depending on what you work on daily.

Some tips to help secure your workstation:

*  lways lock your computer when you walk away from it. I personally like to use the Windows key + L as a quick shortcut.

*  Never leave your password laying around. It’s pointless to keep your computer locked if the password is readily available.

* Don’t leave hints of your password around. If you have a picture of your dog in a frame that says “I LOVE MY FLUFFY” make sure your password isn’t “fluffy” or the name of your spouse, child, pet, etc.

Social engineers love to target workstations with weak security. Don’t let yours be one of them.

Jeff Willard
Communications and Network Services
10/12/2015