As you move towards creating a more secure environment at your organization, it’s important to have policies in place that protect your assets from unauthorized access and changes. You should consider implementing something such as a lockout policy that will dim your screen after 10 minutes of inactivity and will require a logon password after 15 minutes.
Why is this important?
A common misconception, is that locking your computer ONLY protects against internal threats. Mythbusted! Not only does it protect us from internal threats but also helps by delaying external attacks.
- Accidents Happen
Sometimes screens power off or revert to screen savers, commonly most people use a key like “space” or “enter” to wake up the computer without realizing that often a button can trigger a command i.e. submitting a form, saving changes.
- Confidential Communications and Documents
Not locking your computer is like surrendering access of your files, whether personal, confidential or public to unauthorized persons. Next time you leave your computer unlocked just remember, anyone can gain access to your computer and modify, remove or even share data from your computer.
- Keyloggers
A keylogger is a hacking software or device that is designed to record your keystrokes and send the data back to its server. Data collected can range from pins, passwords, account number and email addresses. Opening emails and files from unknown providers (phishing emails) often contain these types of viruses. By locking your computer you help prevent others from accessing your system.
Locking your computer is easy.
So, if you are getting up to grab a coffee or take a restroom break, please remember to lock your computer before leaving your desk.
