The month of October is considered National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and REDCOM believes it is vitally important to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity, now more than ever.

The ease of being able to connect to work at any time day or night from home, and have everything you need in your living room office poses the question, is my network safe? As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, here are some top tips to make sure you and your network are staying protected.

1. Does your home network have a firewall, anti-virus, and password protection? Make sure to turn it on, and change your password to something no one will guess. Get in the habit of running an anti-virus program weekly for your PC and mobile device.

2. Are you using a VPN to connect in to work? Surfing the web is most safe when you are behind a VPN. Think of it as a safety bubble for your Internet traffic. This should be done at the very least if you are accessing any documents or websites related to work.

3. Where are those important documents going? If you are using a home network to print or save documents to, be sure you are keeping them in a safe place. (Under your cup of coffee is not preferred, but better than near your child’s homework!)

4. Can you separate your duties? Using a mobile device is convenient for many reasons. Using your personal computer to access the corporate network too is easy, but try not to mix personal and business data. Use a VPN when you can, but it’s even better to use a remote desktop. If you are using personal devices for company work, make sure you have a password set up, that you have separate folders for the two types of data, and if you need to send documents through email providers such as Gmail and Yahoo, try sending them encrypted so only the people you want to receive them will.

5. What’s going on with the network? We all take for granted the security and protection of our corporate network. There are many great articles and videos online, that can walk you through simple tasks for making your home network secure as well. Three easy tips are to check your router for a password and the latest updates, do the same for your Wi-Fi, change the name of both and hide them from onlookers.

6. If it doesn’t feel safe it probably isn’t. Remember, YOU are the most important asset to the company. You have the power to prevent cybercrimes. If you feel that a link looks suspicious, a website is NSFW, or you have never seen a download like what you are going to install; use your best judgment, it is usually right!

For many of us, remote work is completely new. Just know, there are many resources out there that can help you with questions to staying safe and secure while working from home. There is an entire workforce within your reach who are quite familiar with teleworking, so if you are unsure just ask someone! Work information isn’t the only reason why quick techniques in security is important. The same rules apply to submitting banking information, entering personal data, and protecting items you feel are valuable such as your personal photos and mobile device data. With these easy tips to remember, you can stay safe no matter what you do on the network.

REDCOM has taken appropriate action amid ongoing health concerns related to COVID-19. To ensure the safety of our employees, many of our team members are working from home. Those that are still working in our headquarters will be practicing careful social distancing.

Of course, we are committed to supporting our customers with the quality and responsiveness you’ve come to expect from REDCOM. Though some of us may be working remotely, our customer support team continues to be available 24/7 to help our customers.

As always, you can reach us at +1.585.924.7550. Emergency after-hours support is also available at +1.585.262.3659.

What to expect if you visit REDCOM during COVID-19

If you plan to visit REDCOM’s offices during the COVID-19 pandemic, please keep the following in mind:

• Practice Social Distancing measures by staying at least six feet apart
• Wash your hands and use sanitizer. REDCOM has multiple sanitization stations set up, so please take advantage of them.
• Wear a face mask at all times while inside the building.
• Get your temperature taken at the entrance. A REDCOM employee will take your temperature with a no-contact forehead thermometer when you arrive. Anyone with a heightened temperature will be denied access to REDCOM.
• Self monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. If you have any of these symptoms, we ask that you do NOT come into the office:
  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Loss of smell
  • Loss of taste
  • Trouble breathing
  • Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
  • New confusion or inability to rouse from sleep
  • Blueish lips or face

We will continue to adapt our protocols and communicate as the situation develops.

We wish you good health and safety during these uncertain times.

REDCOM routinely has co-op and internship opportunities available for college students that want to earn real-world experience at a technology company. Our engineering department finds it particularly important to bring these young engineers into the mix for their new perspectives and ideas. At REDCOM, co-op students collaborate directly with our product development teams and are often involved in truly meaningful projects.

Conor Ahern, a Computer Science Major at the Rochester Institute of Technology and co-op on REDCOM’s Secure Client product team, started as an intern and is staying on the team through the summer.

Immediately upon joining the team as an intern, Conor was welcomed as a valued part of the organization, and was able to make real contributions from the beginning, “I’ve had a great experience as a co-op for REDCOM. On only my second or third day, they had already given me things to do, like fixing bugs and helping add features,” Conor remarked.

Initially interested in looking for co-op opportunities at larger tech companies, Conor found REDCOM, and he’s ultimately grateful that he did. “Starting at a small company like REDCOM allowed me to get working right away and learn so much more than I would have at a large company.” He also mentioned how REDCOM’s tightly-knit team made his experience much more fulfilling, “One of the biggest takeaways from my experience is learning how to decide on product decisions with the team, and how to deliberate, discuss, and compromise. No class in school can teach you how to work with a real team, with one end goal in mind, which is making the best product possible.”

REDCOM’s Vice President of Engineering, Jeff Smith, mentions the important role co-ops play within the organization. “These students are smart and eager to learn and contribute – we are learning from them, and they bring in fresh eyes and new ideas,” he remarks. “As Conor can attest to, you’re put to work right away alongside the full-time employees when starting as a co-op at REDCOM. We want to make them full members of the team as quickly as possible with assignments that are integral to the success of the project they are working on. When we are recruiting, I like to tell students that if you came into a team meeting halfway through a co-op assignment, you often can’t tell who’s a co-op and who’s a full-time employee.”

Allan Bennett, Conor’s supervisor, appreciates the contributions of young co-ops like Conor. “They immediately contribute to our Android, iOS, and Windows clients by analyzing code and fixing defects. They participate in daily standups, planning and estimation meetings and demonstrate their work in sprint reviews. From the day they report, co-ops become full and equal members of an agile development team.”

Now, working hard on his team’s current project redesigning the Windows Secure Client Interface with REDCOM’s UX Designer Jim, Conor is excited to see this project through to the end. “Being able to work with everyone on such an important project right from the beginning makes you interested in, and really care about seeing that end result.”

REDCOM has had a steady stream of co-ops throughout the years, several who have transitioned into full-time REDCOM employees. Others took their valuable experience at REDCOM and moved on to important roles at major tech companies. If you’re a college student in the IT, software development, web development, engineering, or cybersecurity disciplines and you’re looking for real-world, on-the-job experience, REDCOM would love to talk to you.