With schools now back in session, students may be re-establishing in-person friendships and making new ones, with social media being a major factor in many of these friendships. But kids can be exposed to unique risks in cyberspace. Help kids remember that cybersafety should always be a priority, and check out these tips for promoting kids’ Internet security.

1. Increase awareness: Help ensure younger children know the basics of staying safe online by using techniques like online games and videos that will define computer terms (e.g., cyberbullying, netiquette, virus protection) to establish basic understanding.

2. Protect your kid’s identity: Remind your kids never to give out personal information, such as name, home address, or telephone number, to anyone they don’t know through email, Twitter, Facebook, or in online chat rooms or bulletin boards. Talk with your children about the online risksof interacting with strangers  through the computer and sending notes and pictures into cyberspace. Online games may help kids understand how to protect their personal information and the ramifications of stolen identity.

3. Protect your computer:  Regularly updating security software can protect your family against scammers, hackers, and other online threats that can compromise your computer system and, consequently, your family’s financial security and other private information. Using software security that automatically updates keeps your technology current and decreases the likelihood of picking up bad programs or malware.

4. Create unique passwords: For online safety, tell your kids to use different passwords for every online account they have to help prevent others from accessing their personal information. Make sure that you monitor each account and make sure your children know that strong passwords should include elements like symbols, numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and no names or words that others could easily guess.

5. Monitor online activity: Monitoring your kids’ online activity can help keep them safe. Explore various parental controls and consider what options may work best for you and your family.

6. Prevent cyberbullying: Cyberbullying—bullying using electronic technology—can happen anytime and anywhere. Teach your children to think through what they post on the Net about other people and the consequences those posts could have if they are unkind or mean.  Also, keep communication with your child open and speak up if you suspect someone is bullying him or her.

7. Promote appropriate online interactions: Use some online games to help show kids how to make responsible decisions about online communication and learn about key issues of digital citizenship. Online activities can include exploration of methods of communication in chat rooms and emails, for example.

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18 Things to Make Your Remote Work Secure, Convenient, and Stress-Free

New to remote work? There are a lot of processes IT has put in place to make your lives easier and more secure in the office. If you’re transitioning to work from home, our checklist can help you put similar processes in place to make your experience more secure, reliable, and, ultimately, more enjoyable. Download our free guide for specific details.

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6 Phases to Guide Your COVID-19 Planning and Response

 

 

Businesses have had to adjust very quickly to the global health crisis. It’s imperative to provide context to help successfully navigate these uncharted waters. This guide illustrates the different phases of needs and planning efforts during the COVID-19 crisis. Identifying which phase your business is currently in will help you develop guidelines and ongoing response efforts for your team and your customers.

 

 

Phase 1: The Crisis Emerges

SMB: Prioritize your employee safety. Provide clear direction. Reduce panic. Communicate policies and plan for work from home (WFH). Establish a single source of truth and centralized information hub.

SMB Customers: Reduce panic, and ensure confidence in your support and service. Determine your customers’ WFH needs, and challenges, and inform them how you can help. Shift to virtual events/meetings.

 

Phase 2: Employee Safety to Working from Home

SMB: Be informative and transparent with
your team. Provide support with manager trainings. Develop resources on WFH security recommendations, productivity, ergonomics, and economic impacts on business.

SMB Customers: Visible leadership and forward- looking guidance is critical. Offer updated intelligence with tangible online resources and
1:1 consultations. Assist customers, and be a calming and guiding voice during this shift. Remind customers that this is temporary.

 

Phase 3: Work From Home to Low Tide

SMB: Take care of your team, and be empathetic to what they may be experiencing. Address human needs by providing mental health resources, grief counseling, and bereavement leave policies.

SMB Customers: Assess customers’ financial impact. Do they need financial relief? Have they themselves experienced layoffs, furloughs, or reduced hours? Check in continuously and provide information on financial relief options such as government funding programs, bank loans, and more.

 

Phase 4: Clarity on Returning to Work

SMB: Prioritize employee safety. Determine if you will need to extend WFH beyond the government guidelines. Prepare to secure multiple working environments, ready new office policies on PTO, WFH, spending, etc. Set expectations now.

SMB Customers: Be a leader for your customers with guidelines and resources for getting back to work. Learn about potential restrictions they may be experiencing and utilize this to formulate a long term plan to serve their needs.

 

Phase 5: Return to Work

SMB: Be optimistic. State clearly all new policies on office safety, WFH, childcare, travel, and spending upon return. Be ready to pivot quickly to create new policies.

SMB Customers: Reassess product and service offerings added or removed during the WFH period. Evaluate existing purchase history and contracts to make sure they align with revised plans. Ensure you have ongoing open communication to address any questions and concerns as your customers transition back to work in the office.

 

Phase 6: Recovery/A New Normal

SMB: Assess what worked and what didn’t, think about accelerated performance in the new norm, and focus on setting new goals. Re-evaluate the state of the business and begin to focus on 2021 planning. Are there ways to further diversify your business should a similar crisis arise in the future?

SMB Customers: Create “lessons learned” materials should another crisis emerge in the future. Evaluate which product and services were deemed essential during the WFH period and what you could you have done differently to better support your customers.

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