Working From Home

Introduction

There are a number of reasons why a University employee might need to work from home. While we hope that departments have properly secured office computers, we know that employee home computers and networks are often far from secured. By following the basic steps and practices listed on this page, working from home will not only be easy, but the University's data and property will be secure.

The most important thing to remember about working from home is that if you are working with University sensitive data| (i.e. financial records, student data, SSNs, etc) that the University's sensitive data needs to be protected in the same way that University property would be protected. If you were driving a University vehicle, you wouldn't just leave the keys in the car in the middle of a parking lot and walk away. If you were using a University laptop, you wouldn't leave it unattended on a park bench. While it's hard at first to think of data as physical property, sensitive data must be protected and cared for in the same way as physical property.

By following these steps, you'll be able to protect University data when you are working at home:

Use a University Provided Laptop

• If your department can provide you with a laptop to work at home, this is the best approach.
• Before you take the laptop home, make sure you talk to your department's IT Professional to have them setup the computer to securely work from home. This should include making sure antivirus software is installed and running, and that the University VPN has been installed.
• If you do bring a University owned laptop home, you should NOT let family and friends use that laptop for security reasons. While you might safely use the computer, are you certain that your children are surfing online with the same care? Also, State of Illinois ethics laws forbid the use of University resources for non-University business.

If Your Department Cannot Provide a Laptop, Secure Your Personal Computer

We understand that not all departments are able to provide all of their employees with laptops to work from home. In cases where it is absolutely necessary to use a personal computer, it is vital to follow these instructions:

• Secure your personal computer. This can easily be done by picking up a Security CD from the CITES Help Desk. If you are unable to get to the help desk, make sure you:
  • Install, update and run antivirus software. If you do not have antivirus software, the University of Illinois provides antivirus software at no charge. Please visit: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/security/antivirus/
  • Make sure that your your all of your operating system updates have been installed
  • Turn on your computer's firewall
  • Install the University VPN. Please visit: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/vpn
• Avoid working with University sensitive data on personal computers.
• If you absolutely have to work with University sensitive data on a personal computer, REMOVE all copies of that information when you are done working. As this article shows: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29447088/ , it is far too easy for the sensitive data to be lost inadvertently to risk leaving it on a personal computer.

Secure Your Home Wireless Network

Due to the ease of setup, more people are choosing to setup a home wireless network to connect to the internet. However, if a wireless network is not properly secured, it becomes a major liability when working at home.

CITES Security has created a guide to help you secure your wireless network. Follow the steps found at http://cites.illinois.edu/security/beyondbasics/homewireless.html to secure your home wireless network.

Use The University VPN When Working

The University VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a tool that allows you to create a secure connection back to campus from anywhere in the world. It is free, easy to use and easy to install.

Whether you're using a wired or wireless connection at home, using the VPN provides two important benefits. First, the VPN's connection is secure and encrypted. That means that no one can intercept and read the information you are accessing or sending. The second benefit is that some University resources like department file-shares, library journals, and certain web sites only are available to people on campus. The VPN is a way of authenticating that you should have access to these resources. Using the VPN will allow you to access these resources from home.

Protect Your USB Drives

Some people transport their work from campus to their home by storing documents on USB drives. An unprotected USB drive is a major risk if it contains University sensitive data. The solution to this problem is encrypting the USB drive so that if it is lost, no one can read the information stored on the drive without the encryption password.

It is possible to purchase USB drives that come with encryption software already installed, or you can encrypt a USB drive with software like TrueCrypt.