Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Notre Dame faculty and staff are teaching and working away from campus. For many, this is their first experience working remotely. The Office of Information Technologies offers these tips to work safely and efficiently from home:
- Your Notre Dame computer should be your first choice for working from home. Contact your supervisor if you need a Notre Dame computer in order to work from home.
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If you need to use your personal computer for work, please follow these Personal Device Security Guidelines to set it up safely.
- Your work computer should be reserved for work and work activities. While working from home, do not allow family or friends to use your work computer.
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At work, your computer is protected by safeguards that can’t be matched at home. However, you can make your home network more secure by changing a few settings on your home router. The router is the device that connects computers, tablets and smart appliances in your home to the Internet. Your Internet Service Provider (Comcast, ATT, Frontier, etc.), can provide specific instructions for making these changes to your router which include the following:
- Turn on the router’s built-in firewall
- Change the administrator account password to a password of your choice
- Turn off the ability to log into the router from the Internet
Here are some general tips to help keep your computer safe from computer viruses—just like people try to stay safe from human viruses.
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Use the Notre Dame VPN (Virtual Private Network) when you work from home. Instructions are available at: Connecting to the VPN – Cisco AnyConnect.
- Public computers—such as those found in a hotel lobby or library—should not be used for work.
- Avoid using public WiFi while you’re working. Cyber criminals often set up their own WiFi networks with names designed to look like real networks. If you use one of these networks while working, the cyber criminal may gain access to your Notre Dame account and other information.
- A USB memory stick or thumb drive can carry nasty computer viruses. If you find one and you don’t know where it came from, it’s not safe to plug it into your computer.
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Remember phishing scams are the biggest threat to computer safety. You can find more information about latest COVID-19 phishing scams in this article: How to Avoid Online Scams Related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
If you have any questions about COVID-19 email scams or any other suspicious messages, contact the OIT Help Desk at 574-631-8111 or oithelp@nd.edu or chat online at: help.nd.edu.
Originally published by at oit.nd.edu on March 20, 2020.