IT related gifts have been popular for Christmas for the last few years. It's not logical for anyone in business to receive their new IT equipment as a gift because it makes the claiming of tax relief on its cost so much harder. But it happens.
It also happens rather more often that staff receive such a gift and then link it up to your IT systems. The link may just be that they down load their contact list onto their new mobile phone. More worryingly, they may seek to link their new hand held PC with your system or the portable computer they now have might wirelessly link to your network.
All these possibilities pose massive risks. The reasons are simple. The first is that not everyone sees the need for virus protection of their equipment, and this is especially true of home based PCs. If such a PC is infected by a virus connecting it to your network, wirelessly or otherwise creates the immediate possibility that your system could be infected. So take the obvious step. Issue warnings now that no IT equipment of any sort is to be connected to your office system without prior approval and without its anti-virus software being checked and approved first of all.
The second step is as obvious, but even more commonly over-looked. Ask anyone who carries company confidential data on electronic equipment to password control its use. What is company confidential information? Well, in many cases the most valuable information a company has is its client list, so someone who has a mobile phone with a list of customer telephone numbers on it and no password control is putting your well-being at risk.
These steps are simple, have almost no cost, but could seriously improve your well-being.
Date:21 December 2005
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