Securely Working from Home

As a member of the university community, you are entrusted to manage university information responsibly and in accordance with the University's Information Management and Information Technology Policies.

Here are some information security safeguards to follow while working from home:

1. Secure your home router and WiFi

Insecurely configured home routers can lead to eavesdropping and/or attackers gaining remote control of your home computing devices.  Follow key and fundamental security safeguards such as changing the default router password and using Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2). See the following guide for router/wifi security:

Router Security: How to Setup Wi-Fi Router Securely

2. Secure your home computers

Keep up-to-date with patches/fixes/updates (including security, operating system, and antivirus updates).  Enable the computer's personal firewall and hard drive encryption.  Use a strong/secure password that is unique and not shared.

3. Minimize information management risks

Do not save, store, or print university information locally (especially that which is personally identifying).  That is, securely connecting to and using university resources remotely keeps university information on the university system.  Examples of such university resources include UAlberta Google, faculty/department based file-shares, and enterprise systems such as PeopleSoft, EDRMS, SupplyNet and eClass.  Use the university VPN where appropriate and necessary to securely connect to the university network.

If you absolutely need to save, store, or print university information at home in order to do your job, obtain approval from your director/chair beforehand, and agree on security safeguards around version control, information sharing/exchange, encryption, and retention/archive/disposal, among others.

Whether for work or vacation, most members of the U of A community will travel with their electronic devices at some point. You cannot predict what will happen while travelling, so to protect yourself and the university, be as proactive as possible and follow these best practices.