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Working Securely from Home

March 24, 2020


A woman with a dust mask looks at her upheld smartphone as if taking a selfie.

Article Updated

    This article was updated in November, 2021 to reflect the ongoing remote work environment. Read our updated article to learn about Working Securely from Home.

While working from home during the COVID-19 situation, it’s important to practice secure remote computing. There are special considerations when working remotely, and when using a personally-owned computer for work.


Working Remotely

When working away from 51ÂÜÀò, you need to protect university data from being seen by anyone but you. This isn’t because we don’t trust your family. Rather, 51ÂÜÀò has to comply with certain legal and regulatory requirements that require only 51ÂÜÀò employees have access to 51ÂÜÀò data.

  • Your family should not use your work computer.
  • Your family should not view sensitive university data on your computer screen (Examples: Protected student information, health information, or business data).
  • Make sure your home wireless router is password-protected using a strong passphrase.
  • Use VPN when you need to access systems or services that are only available on campus.

Using a Personally-Owned Computer for Work

51ÂÜÀò’s IT department enables security controls on every 51ÂÜÀò-owned device. This helps protect 51ÂÜÀò in the case of a data breach, or in the case of theft or data loss. As much as possible, try to keep 51ÂÜÀò data in systems managed by the University, such as Google Drive. Avoid storing personally-identifiable information (PII) on your personally-owned computer.

If you must use a personally-owned computer for work, you will need to set up these security controls for your device:

  • Encrypt your computer’s hard drive.
  • Turn on your .
  • Keep your OS up to date.
  • Back up your data with .
  • Create a separate user account only for 51ÂÜÀò work.
  • Lock your computer down with a passphrase and an automatic screensaver lock.
  • Delete any 51ÂÜÀò data from your hard drive when you’re done using it.

Some software must not be accessed from a personally-owned computer for any reason, due to compliance requirements and information security risks. These are:

  • Banner
  • Cognos
  • DegreeWorks Admin Tools
  • Evisions
  • Files server (files.biola.edu)
  • Perceptive Content

Thank you for protecting 51ÂÜÀò’s data while working from home!


Go here to see IT’s documentation for working from home: