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Working From Home? Don’t Do This!

2026-10-30

Working from home is here to stay. So are the security shortcuts that come with it, like letting the kids borrow the work laptop “just for a minute.”

At the office, IT controls the network, the devices and who sits at the keyboard. At home, the same laptop shares a network with smart TVs, game consoles and devices that have not seen a security update in years, and it sits on a kitchen table where anyone can use it. Attackers know that the home office is often the weakest link into a company.

The National Security Agency takes this seriously enough to publish Best Practices for Securing Your Home Network, which focuses on three themes: secure the router, separate your devices onto different networks, and protect work information while teleworking. You do not need to be a network engineer to follow the spirit of it.

Common mistakes

The home office habits to break

  • Sharing the work device: Family members download games, click ads and visit sites you never would. Keep work devices for work only.
  • Using personal devices for company data: Downloading client files to a personal PC puts them outside company protection, backups and control.
  • Default router settings: An old router with the factory admin password and outdated firmware is an easy target.
  • Emailing files to personal accounts: It feels convenient, but it creates copies nobody can track or delete.
  • Leaving the screen unlocked: Video calls, curious kids and visiting contractors can all see more than you think.
  • Printing sensitive documents at home: Then tossing them in the regular trash. Shred them, or do not print them.

Your home network is now part of your company’s network. Treat it that way.

Fix the router first

Your router is the front door for every device in the house. Most people set it up once and never touch it again. Log in to its admin page or app and work through this list:

  • Change the admin password from the factory default to a unique one in your password manager.
  • Update the firmware, and turn on automatic updates if available. If the router no longer gets updates, replace it; routers more than five or six years old often do not.
  • Use WPA3 or WPA2 encryption with a long Wi-Fi password.
  • Turn off remote management and WPS unless you have a specific need.
  • Create a guest network for visitors, smart TVs, cameras and other gadgets, so they cannot see your work laptop.

That last step is the heart of the NSA advice. Separating work devices from everything else means a hacked smart plug or a child’s gaming PC is not sitting on the same network as your company data.

Video calls deserve a second look

Home offices put your personal life on camera. Before a call, glance at what is behind you: whiteboards with client names, sticky notes with passwords, mail on the counter and family photos all show up clearly in a recording. Use a blurred or virtual background when in doubt.

Be careful with screen sharing, too. Share a single window instead of the whole desktop, close email and chat before presenting, and turn off notifications so a private message does not pop up in front of a client. If a meeting will discuss sensitive topics, use headphones so family members and smart speakers are not part of the conversation.

A realistic scenario

The game download that reached the office

Picture an employee whose teenager borrows the work laptop to install a free game mod. The download includes an infostealer that grabs saved browser passwords and session cookies, including the ones for the company’s Microsoft 365 and accounting software. A week later, those logins are for sale online, and someone uses them to read the employee’s email and send fake invoices to clients.

Nothing about the company’s office network was breached. The door was a kitchen table. A separate family computer, a password manager instead of browser-saved passwords and phishing-resistant MFA on email would each have broken the chain.

Good habits that cost nothing

  • Lock your screen every time you step away: Windows key + L on a PC, Control + Command + Q on a Mac.
  • Use the company VPN or secure access tools when your employer provides them.
  • Keep work files in company storage, like OneDrive or SharePoint, not on the desktop or a USB stick.
  • Watch what the camera and microphone pick up during calls, and cover the webcam when you are not using it.
  • Report anything odd to IT quickly, from a strange pop-up to a lost device. Early reports are the cheapest ones.

For employers: Provide company-managed laptops, require VPN or zero-trust access for internal systems, enforce multifactor authentication and give staff a simple one-page remote work security guide. It is far cheaper than cleaning up after a breach.

For employers

If your team works from home, make the secure path the easy path. Provide company-owned laptops managed by IT, with updates, encryption and EDR, rather than relying on personal machines. Offer a simple home-network checklist like the one above, and consider covering the cost of a modern router for staff who handle sensitive data. Spell out the rules in writing, including what to do when a device is lost or a family member used it, and include remote staff in your incident response plan. And when your people work away from home too, share the public Wi-Fi rules.