May I Help You?

‘Floor’ Security’

There are far too many cases of theft in our offices today, particularly in the downtown core of Vancouver. Most of these thefts occur during business hours. In my experience, the focus has been on ‘laptop’ computers and wallets or purses.

In order to do your part in keeping staff and your own floors secure, I offer the following suggestions:

1. Be sure the doors leading to your floor are secure and the door is closing properly behind you; ensure there are no ‘lock issues’ or ‘intermittent’ problems in this regard;
2. Do not hold the door open for people you do not recognize to follow you onto your floor – just as you would not permit strangers to follow you into your apartment complex;
3. If you see someone you do not recognize on the floor walking around, watering the plants, carrying a folder, or whatever, offer your assistance by asking ’May I Help You?’;
4. Do your best to ensure that your boss and all professional staff you report to do NOT store documents on their respective ‘hard drives’ – this has been an issue for me for years, and I know it is difficult to implement this rule with superiors;
5. Make absolutely sure that all laptops left behind in the evening are locked down, if not, take them to your own station to lock up in your cabinet or drawer; and
6. Keep wallets and purses locked up in your desk and keep your keys on your person.

‘Document’ Security’

To secure your confidential documents completely, I suggest the following:

1. Use complex ‘pass-wording’ AND ‘encryption’; write down these passwords in a special location that is ‘locked’ in your desk so you are never ‘locked out’ of your drafts or finals;
2. Use a ‘dark screen cover’ on your monitors so ‘confidential’ data cannot be read by anyone coming up behind you to ask a question or visit;
3. Ideally, your ’station’ should have privacy walls around you – as in the ’cubicle’ set-up;
4. Save your file as ‘read only’ so it cannot be tampered with even IF it lands in the wrong hands; use special character password protection for this function;
5. For your ‘drafts’ of larger documents, like proposals, save them in a ‘protected PDF’ format’ so they cannot be accessed other than by the ‘author’ – you are in control of ‘viewing’ and ‘printing’ options, as well as other features;
6. Keep hard copies of your proposals and other important documentation under lock and key, keeping the keys on your person;
7. Do NOT share your passwords unless absolutely mandatory for your boss or other colleagues;
8. Use the ‘hide text’ option – hit Control, Shift, H for text such as company or client names, and particularly, ‘contract values displayed in dollar  amounts’; you can also ‘manipulate’ this function to show ‘other’ properties;
9. Save your confidential files in a ’shadow’ folder location on your servers; and
10. Be sure to change your passwords every ‘2 weeks’, including your login info and do NOT share this information unless it is an absolute necessity, such as your ‘absence’ from work. Upon your return to the office, make changing your passwords ‘globally’ a priority one.

Our next topic will be on ‘Adding More Value’ – come back to see ‘how’.