4. HOW TO CLEAR YOUR TRACKS ON YOUR WORK LAPTOP
The Problem: If you use a company-owned laptop at home, chances are you use it for personal tasks: planning family vacations, shopping for beach books, organizing online photo albums and so on. Many companies reserve the right to monitor all that activity, because the laptops are technically their property. So what happens if your -- ahem -- friend accidentally surfs onto a porn site or does a Web search for some embarrassing ailment?
The Trick: The latest versions of the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers both make it easy to clear your tracks. In IE7, click on Tools, then Delete Browsing History. From there, you can either delete all your history by clicking Delete All or choose one or a few kinds of data to delete. In Firefox, just hit Ctrl-Shift-Del -- or click Clear Private Data under the Tools menu.
The Risk: Even if you clear your tracks, you still face risks from roaming all over the Web. You could unintentionally install spyware on your computer from visiting a sketchy site or get your boss involved in legal problems for your behavior. If you're caught, it could mean (at best) embarrassment or (at worst) joblessness.
How to Stay Safe: Clear your private data as often as possible. Better yet, don't use your work computer to do anything you wouldn't want your boss to know about.
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5. HOW TO SEARCH FOR YOUR WORK DOCUMENTS FROM HOME
The Problem: You're catching up on work late at night or over the weekend -- but the documents you need to search through are stuck on your office PC.
The Trick: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask unit have all released software that lets you quickly search your desktop documents. On top of that, some will let you search through documents saved on one computer from another one. How does it work? The search company keeps a copy of your documents on its own server. So it can scan those copies when you do a search remotely.
To use Google's software -- among the most popular -- follow these steps on both your work and home PC. First, you'll need to set up a Google account on both machines by visiting Google.com/accounts. (Be sure to use the same account on both computers.) Then go to Desktop.Google.com to download the search software. When it's up and running -- again, do this on both machines -- click on Desktop Preferences, then Google Account Features. From there, check the box next to Search Across Computers. After that point, any document you open on either machine will be copied to Google's servers -- and will be searchable from either machine.
The Risk: Corporate technology managers offer this nightmare scenario: You've saved top-secret financial information on your work PC. You set up desktop-search software so that you can access those files when working from home on your laptop. Then you lose your laptop. Uh-oh.
Getting hold of your company's internal documents could give others insight into your plans, and losing certain information could have legal repercussions. In particular, myriad state laws regulate how a company has to react when it loses private information about customers or employees; most require notifying those people about the breach in writing. Sending those notifications can be costly for your company -- not to mention damaging to its reputation.
On top of that threat, researchers have found vulnerabilities in Google's desktop-search software that could let a hacker trick a user into giving up access to files, says Mr. Schmugar of McAfee. (Those vulnerabilities have since been fixed, but more could crop up, he says.)
Matt Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, says there are bound to be vulnerabilities in any software and that, to the best of his knowledge, none of the Google Desktop vulnerabilities were exploited by hackers. He adds that when Google finds out about a vulnerability, it quickly fixes it and notifies users.
How to Stay Safe: If you have any files on your work PC that shouldn't be made public, ask your IT administrator to help you set up Google Desktop to avoid accidental leaks.
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6. HOW TO STORE WORK FILES ONLINE
The Problem: Desktop search aside, most people who often work away from the office have come up with their own solution to getting access to work files. They save them on a disk or a portable device and then plug it into a home computer. Or they store the files on the company network, then access the network remotely. But portable devices can be cumbersome, and company-network connections can be slow and unreliable.
The Trick: Use an online-storage service from the likes of Box.net Inc., Streamload Inc. or AOL-owned Xdrive. (Box.net also offers its service inside the social-networking site Facebook.) Most offer some free storage, from one to five gigabytes, and charge a few dollars a month for premium packages with extra space. Another guerrilla storage solution is to email files to your private, Web-based email account, such as Gmail or Hotmail.
The Risk: A bad guy could steal your password for one of these sites and quickly grab copies of your company's sensitive files.
How to Stay Safe: When you're thinking about storing a file online, ask yourself if it would be OK for that file to be splashed all over the Internet or sent to the CEO of your company's top rival. If so, go for it. If not, don't.
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7. HOW TO KEEP YOUR PRIVACY WHEN USING WEB EMAIL
The Problem: Many companies now have the ability to track employees' emails, both on work email accounts and personal Web-based accounts, as well as IM conversations.
The Trick: When you send emails -- using either your work or personal email address -- you can encrypt them, so that only you and the recipient can read them. In Microsoft Outlook, click on Tools, then Options and choose the Security tab. There, you can enter a password -- and nobody can open a note from you without supplying it. (Of course, you'll have to tell people the code beforehand.)
For Web-based personal email, try this trick from Mr. Frauenfelder: When checking email, add an "s" to the end of the "http" in front of your email provider's Web address -- for instance,
https://www.Gmail.com. This throws you into a secure session, so that nobody can track your email. Not all Web services may support this, however.
To encrypt IM conversations, meanwhile, try the IM service Trillian from Cerulean Studios LLC, which lets you connect to AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and others -- and lets you encrypt your IM conversations so that they can't be read.
The Risk: The main reason companies monitor email is to catch employees who are leaking confidential information. By using these tricks, you may set off false alarms and make it harder for the IT crew to manage real threats.
How to Stay Safe: Use these tricks only occasionally, instead of as a default.
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8. HOW TO ACCESS YOUR WORK EMAIL REMOTELY WHEN YOUR COMPANY WON'T SPRING FOR A BLACKBERRY
The Problem: Anyone without a BlackBerry knows the feeling: There's a lull in the conversation when you're out to dinner or an after-work beer, and everyone reaches for their pocket to grab their BlackBerry, leaving you alone to stir your drink.
The Trick: You, too, can stay up to date on work email, using any number of consumer-oriented hand-held devices. Just set up your work email so that all your emails get forwarded to your personal email account.
In Microsoft Outlook, you can do this by right-clicking on any email, choosing Create Rule, and asking that all your email be forwarded to another address. Then, set up your hand-held to receive your personal email, by following instructions from the service provider for your hand-held. (That's the company that sends you your bill.)
The Risk: Now, not only can hackers break into your personal account by going online on a computer, they can also break into it by exploiting security vulnerabilities on your mobile device.
How to Stay Safe: There's a kosher way to access work email on some devices, by getting passwords and other information from your IT department.
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9. HOW TO ACCESS YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL ON YOUR BLACKBERRY
The Problem: If you do have a BlackBerry, you've probably got a different problem: You want to get your personal email just as easily as work email.
The Trick: Look at the Settings area of your personal email account, and make sure you've enabled POP -- Post Office Protocol -- a method used to retrieve email from elsewhere. Then log in to the Web site for your BlackBerry service provider. Click on the Profile button, look for the Email Accounts section and click on Other Email Accounts. Then click Add Account and enter the information for your Web-based email account. Now your personal emails will pop up on the same screen as your company email.
The Risk: Your company probably uses a whole bunch of security technology to keep viruses and spies out of your files. When you receive personal email on your BlackBerry, it's coming to you without passing through your company's firewall. That means viruses or spyware could sneak onto your BlackBerry via a personal email, says Mr. Schmugar of McAfee. Worse yet, he says, when you plug your BlackBerry into your work computer, there's a chance that the malicious software could jump onto your hard drive.
How to Stay Safe: Cross your fingers and hope that your personal email provider is doing a decent job weeding out viruses, spyware and other intruders. (Chances are, it is.)
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10. HOW TO LOOK LIKE YOU'RE WORKING
The Problem: You're doing some vital Web surfing and your boss turns the corner. What do you do?
The Trick: Hit Alt-Tab to quickly minimize one window (say, the one where you're browsing ESPN.com) and maximize another (like that presentation that's due today).
The Risk: The good news is that there are no known security risks.
How to Stay Safe: Get back to work.
