Do you know what consumers like to buy? In this article I’m analyzing the best diaper products for retailers and consumers. The number of baby diapers in the market can be confusing for both retailers to pick the best selling ones and consumers to know which one is good for their children.

If you are a startup retailer who needs to stock the best diaper products that consumers want to buy, you may have a problem making the right decision at this point. Although, what is easy is to pick and stock the most popular brands. But that may not be ideal for every location.

In each local markets, there are certain diaper brands that consumers have come to like more than others. They may not necessarily be the most popular ones. There are several factors that may affect what diaper products consumers patronize the most,

One of such reason is by recommendation. Most consumers buy products based on recommendations from other people. It may be from friends, colleagues at work, church members, experts, or just from family members. These recommendation can make consumers buy any product regardless of their quality and price.

What Consumers Think Of Diaper Products

It’s important to always know what consumers think about a product. Their perception is key to knowing what you should be selling as a retailer. For example, Guilder beer is a very good brand, but there are locations you will never see good demand for Guilder.

It has nothing to do with whether the product is good or bad, but what the consumers in that area think of it. The best diaper products may not be what’s selling in your location.

You need to understand how the consumers in your target area think about the diaper product you want to stock. It will not be wrong to investigate it properly. While I will analyze what informs consumers decision about best diaper products, it may be slightly different in your location.

So, my advise would be to also do your own little research as well. What you may find out would help you apply my advise better. Moreover, your target market maybe different from another market location. So, it’s wise to do a little bit of your own findings to balance your knowledge.

About The Best Diaper Products

In the eyes of the ordinary consumer, the best diaper products maybe the most popular brands. The one that is advertised the most, or the ones everybody seems to be using in that area. Or the ones used by those that they know and relate with on a regular basis.

There are over 50 diaper brands in the country, and most of them can pass off as best diaper products. Yet, that would not be the right assessment for every market in the country. For some markets, their best diaper products could be Molfix, while another could be Dr. brown.

For a retailer, the best diaper products would be the one that most people in your market buy regularly. It doesn’t matter what brand or price of the diaper. What matters is that it makes business sense to sell such diaper brand.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, price point is defining the best diaper products consumers are patronizing. This post is not about making a case for any brand, but the Chinese brands are gaining strength in the diaper market with cheap unbranded diapers.

And that raises a lot of concern, since most of these products are not registered with NAFDAC or SON CAP approved.

Identifying Special Diaper Features

Diaper products have evolved over the years. It has not always been diapers. There were times it was a reusable napkin that mothers used for their babies. It was washable but so messy – as mums had to deal with cleaning poop and pee from off the babies and the napkins.

At the introduction of diapers or nappies, things changed. It became disposable, making it better for mums to deal with poop. Once a nappy is soiled with poop, the mother unwraps it from the baby and dispose it together with the poop.

But this nappies also had their own problems. Some of which was also being experienced with napkins. When the baby pooped the nappies would ooze off poop smell. It’s wasn’t pleasant for mums to always had to deal with, especially when in public places.

Also, since these nappies are more or less worn like panties, some don’t fit properly on the babies, and had gaps between their legs from where poops and pee could be leaking from. Mothers often got messed up with poop and pee.

Not to mention the health problems babies experience as a result. Some of these nappies also make babies so uncomfortable.

Top Key Features:

Now, manufacturers had to include features to help solve the main problems mums had with nappies, which are majorly rashes and itching, poop smell and nappies leakage. These were solved with:

• Dry nappies
• Perfumed nappies
• Stretch nappies

The dry nappies provided the comfort and dryness for the babies skin, helping to prevent babies from having rashes and itching on their skin. These dry nappies absorb liquid collected in the nappies, which is primarily the main causes of rashes and itching.

More so, the nappies are perfumed to help hide the smell from the poop and pee, relieving mothers from the public embarrassment of smelly poop. And the stretch help to fit the nappies properly, blocking any gap for leaks, so the mums don’t have to worry about poop leaking into their cloths when in public.

How Price Affect Sales

Although diaper products are not expensive but that doesn’t mean price doesn’t affect sales of diapers. It does affect it more than you know. If not, why do you think Pampers lost its number best diaper products to Molfix?

The two products may not even be the same quality. So, many mothers should have preferred Pampers over Molfix, but the price of Pampers compared to Molfix discourages some. It’s a like a case of the best brand with a cheaper price wins. Although, there are mistakes made by Pampers which they may not want to correct.

And it has nothing to do with quality. Rather, I would blame it on Income and expenditure. Inasmuch as every family would love to give their children the best of diaper products, not many can afford it. Buying just one pack of diaper may not make significant impact on their income, but having to buy it for like 2 to 4 years of the life of that baby will drill significant hole on their finance.

Even the so called cheaper diapers are not super price friendly. So, the consumers are making choices of price as they consider their income and how much they would spend on diapers in a month or a year or years.

How Consumer Interest Works

You may be surprised how consumer interest affects product sales. I did a market research on best diaper products and I was amazed at what I found. The most interesting was consumer interest. They may differ from market to market, but something was rather off and similar in my discovery.

It has to do with Prince and Princess diapers. At that time the product was very scarce in the market. So, my respondents thought I was representing all diaper companies. They asked me when I would be bringing Prince and Princess diapers. That made me curious about the brand.

At that time it was a fast selling baby diaper. I’m not saying it’s among the best diaper products now since it’s hardly in the market, but it seems to be then. When I inquired further why they wanted that diaper, the sole reason being that it comes with free wipes.

I wasn’t surprised, because their reason was in order. Mothers save cost of buying wipes when they buy Prince and Princess baby diapers. And diapers and wipes are used together.

You cannot divorce consumer interest when picking the best diaper products. The latest interest now being the stretch and affordability. While some may not consider affordability since diapers are not that expensive, many can’t ignore the stretch. It helps hold the diapers on babies and eliminate size option for many children.

The Competition With Diaper Brands

You need to know that each diaper brand is unique in some ways. Apart from the brand name, the sizes for age brackets may also not be the same with another brand diaper. Even your child who maybe 6 months old may be bigger or smaller than diaper size for 6 months old babies.

So, no two diapers are actually the same. You need to learn about every diaper as a retailer. Find out what the manufacturers are promoting about their diapers, and compare it with the reasons consumers are actually buying it.

Find out about the features that makes each diaper product stand out from the rest. There may be some features the manufacturers didn’t consider huge but might be what’s selling the product in your market.

For example, I learnt about the key reason that’s making consumers pick Chinese unbranded diapers over the Nigerian big brands, which is the lower price point. As consumers make purchase choice on limited income, price is a major consideration.

I heard they have also added stretch to make it irresistible for most mums, who merely see diapers from the disposable point of view, Even though the Nigerian big brands has stretch as well, the lower price point gave the Chinese Diapers some market advantage.

Opportunities And Market Demand

So many diapers are being sold daily across the country. Although, there’s still huge potential for diapers, as some mums are still not using diapers for their babies yet, especially in the rural areas. That still means there’s an untapped potential in the diaper market. There’s room for growth and market demand can be increased.

Although, untapped diaper markets are under the purview of the brand owners, but a retailer is in better position to understand its market. You can find out what is hindering growth in your target market and seek solutions to it.

For example, sometime in Lagos, the Aboki shops started selling ladies sanitary pads in single retail units. These Mallams didn’t know initially that it was supposed to be sold as a pack. That mistake helped ladies who couldn’t afford to buy a pack to still use pads instead of tissue paper.

A retailer can also provide such single unit sales to help mothers who couldn’t afford a diaper pack to buy as they need it. Sometimes, some mothers might only need a diaper if they are taking their kids out, and not when they are at home.

See opportunities and capitalize on them to grow your target market. It can also help increase your profit, as selling single unit will cost more as opposed to selling in packs.

The Economic Impact Of Diaper Products

Diaper products are creating Income and employment opportunities for many people in the country. There are hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who are gainfully employed in the diaper market.

We can number the brands that are importing or manufacturing diapers, but we cannot number for a fact the thousands involved in the retail of diaper products. The number keeps increasing by the day.

As a consultant for startup businesses, I get a lot of enquiries daily on people who are desiring to startup a diaper shop. This number is so high that you will question if diapers are the only product worth selling. You can also read: How To Start A Profitable Diaper Shop.

The annual diaper sales is currently at over 2 billion diapers. According to a report on Nonwoven Industries website, the growth will continue at a 9% forecast to reach 3.6 billion units sold by 2022.

Conclusion

The best diaper products are not necessarily the ones most consumers are buying. The idea of diapers was to solve problems mother have with caring for their babies. And I have explained the three most important ones.

As a diaper retailer, these are things you should watch out for. Even if that diaper is not selling fast already, it would sell in the future, as more and more mums found out about it’s good features. Although, I also mention price and consumer interest.

It’s not just one factor that defines the best diaper products. You have to examine several things along the line to pick what would sell for your market. That’s your key to success with selling the best diaper products.

Finally, the wearable pants are now trending. They are easy to wear the babies. Even fathers can now do the nappies without worries. This new nappies are same as baby pants but with full diaper features.

A cyberattack is a malicious and deliberate attempt by a cybercriminal to breach the information system of an individual or a business. Cyberattacks have become so common these days, barely a week goes by without news of a high-profile data breach or cyberattack.

Attacks are happening all the time to computers with internet access.

A recent study at the University of Maryland found that in America, hackers launch cyberattacks against computers with an internet connection every 39 seconds on average.

While only attacks targeting large corporations make the headlines, studies show that most of the cyberattacks are targeted at small businesses. In fact, 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses including start-up companies.

Start-ups are especially vulnerable to malicious attacks in their first 18 months of operation. In this article, we look at why start-ups should pay attention to cybersecurity and some proactive steps these small businesses can take to mitigate the risk of a cyberattack. Read on to learn more.

Why Cybercriminals Target Small Businesses

Large organizations have more customer data, more money, and are naturally a big-ticket target for hackers. It makes more sense for cybercriminals to target large organizations as opposed to smaller businesses.

Following this logic, it’s easy for entrepreneurs to operate under the assumption that their businesses are too small to worry about cyberattacks or their data is not theft-worthy.

But that can’t be further from the truth. No business is too small to worry about cybersecurity.

Any business that uses technology to store and manage customer information is a potential target. And it doesn’t take the attackers a lot of effort to find vulnerable systems, they use automated scripts to find entry points to access valuable data.

Since most start-ups don’t have an adequate computer and network security, they automatically become an easy target for cybercriminals. Due to limited resources, start-ups often fail to respond to cyber threats quickly enough — some won’t even detect attacks at all.

Common Cybersecurity Threats Start-Ups Face

Cybersecurity threats are everywhere. Data breaches and other forms of attacks happen on a daily basis. Small businesses are an appealing target for cybercriminals and fall victim to the vast majority of cyberattacks.

If you are running a start-up, know that you are a direct target of an attack. What are some of the most common cyber threats start-ups face? Here are some of the most common threats that entrepreneurs should be concerned about.

image from pixabay.com

I. Phishing

Reports indicate that phishing accounts for over 90 percent of cyberattacks. In a phishing attack, hackers will send out emails to multiple targets posing as a trusted source. These emails contain malicious code in an attachment or link.

Ransomware attacks tend to utilize phishing as a method of delivery. You may also be prompted to enter sensitive information, such as password and account details, allowing the attacker to gain access to your PC or account.

II. Malware

Hackers will often deploy malware to exploit vulnerabilities in your system. Depending on the type of malware, there are many forms of malware attacks. Once it has found a way into your system, a trojan virus allows the attacker to perform several functions.

For instance, the attacker can delete, modify, or steal your data. Other forms of malware such as worms, bloatware, adware, rootkits, etc. can be just as damaging.

III. Ransomware

As the name suggests, ransomware is a form of malware that makes your data inaccessible and holds it to ransom. It’s nearly impossible to get rid of ransomware without parting with significant amounts of money.

These attacks are spread through phishing emails to unsuspecting employees. Ransomware is becoming increasingly common these days. Forbes predicted a 300% increase in ransomware attacks in 2020, mostly targeting small businesses.

IV. Data Leakages

Data leakage is the unauthorized transfer of secure or private/confidential information from within an organization to an external environment. Data leakages can be intentional or unintentional. The data may include contact info, user credentials, payment card information, etc.

Start-ups, especially those that have implemented interfaces with financial service providers, are highly vulnerable to financial data leaks.

V. Human Error

More often than not, the root cause of most data breaches or cyberattacks is human error. Research shows that the vast majority of cybersecurity incidents are directly or indirectly caused by negligent employees, contractors, and third parties.

Employee actions such as continued use of default passwords, loss of company smartphone, sending sensitive company information to the wrong email, etc. can easily result in a data breach.

Cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, and attacks are becoming more frequent and more damaging. New types of phishing attacks, spear-phishing, and whaling are on the rise.

The former targets a specific person or entity while the latter specifically targets senior executives within an organization. Understanding the different types of threats out there will help you protect your start-up from a cyberattack.

The Cost of a Data Breach

As the media focuses on mega data breaches, cyberattacks are rapidly becoming the norm for small businesses — often with catastrophic consequences. The average loss per attack is more than $188,000, that’s way more than your average start-up is capable of recovering from.

Reports suggest that more than half of small businesses don’t survive a cyberattack. Most of these businesses will go under, six months after the attack. What can you do to protect your start-up from cyberattacks and avoid these consequences?

Securing Your Start-Up

Running a start-up, or a business of any kind for that matter can be demanding. Between endless client meetings and finding the right market for your product, entrepreneurs have their hands full and don’t have time to think about issues such as data security.

Cybersecurity may not even cross your mind until there’s a breach. But that doesn’t make your start-up less of a target. The frequency of these threats calls for the highest level of preparedness.

Here are some proactive steps you can take to mitigate the risk of a cyberattack or data breach in your start-up.

I. Perform a Risk Assessment Exercise

Risk assessment is an important part of cybersecurity. To be able to defend against the wide range of cybersecurity threats out there, you need to know where you are most vulnerable.

Carrying out a risk assessment can help you do that. You can start with an audit of the most valuable data and information in your possession. This audit will give you a clear picture of where your start-up needs the most protection.

If you are not well-equipped to carry out a proper risk assessment, there’s no harm in hiring an external consultant to help you out.

II. Install Cybersecurity Software

Consider cybersecurity software such as antivirus and VPNs to add an extra layer of security. Antivirus is a set of programs designed to protect your system from viruses, trojans, spyware, worms, and other malicious software.

Anti-malware can help you keep your start-up’s data, company information, and identity secure from attackers. You might also want to add a Virtual Private Network to your cybersecurity toolkit.

You can ensure that you have a secure connection with a VPN and prevent Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and a wide range of online threats.

III. Employee Training

As stated earlier in the article, the vast majority of data breaches are a result of negligent behavior by employees. No matter how secure your system is, you are still vulnerable to cyberattacks if your employees lack proper training.

Regular employee training sessions on cybersecurity best practices can help. Provide guidance on how to handle sensitive information and come up with clear rules regarding password security.

Come up with a cybersecurity framework that outlines key processes and procedures in the event of an attack.

image from pixabay.com

IV. Protect Your Company Data on the Move

Keep in mind that sensitive company data will accompany your employees wherever they go. Negligent behavior by employees even outside the office can lead to a cyberattack.

There are steps that you can take to ensure that company information is protected at all times. For instance, encrypting all mobile devices used for work purposes is a good place to start.

Also, block access to websites that compromise the security of your company data on devices used for work purposes. Ensure that your security policy covers the use of personal devices and remote working.

V. Control Access to Company Data

As an entrepreneur running a young start-up, you must be aware of who has access to sensitive company information from the get-go. Sometimes you have to share sensitive credentials with third-parties when you launch your start-up, that’s okay.

Problems arise when you fail to revoke these privileges when your relationship with a certain vendor ends. Some third parties may not see the need to protect your company data with the same level of urgency when you are not working together.

Also, limit employee access to sensitive company data.

VI. Update Your Software Regularly

We cannot stress the fast-evolving nature of cyber threats and its significance to the security of your company data enough.

Hackers are always coming up with newer, more clever ways to launch cyberattacks. Software updates are vital to your start-up’s digital safety and cybersecurity. Using old, outdated security systems puts your business at greater risk of a cyberattack.

Software patches are essential to your online security. Check your systems regularly to make sure that you are running the latest software version.

VII. Create an Incident Reporting Mechanism

Cyberattacks and data breaches are inevitable. Create an incident reporting system within your organization to ensure that all cybersecurity incidents are reported and properly documented.

The goal of an effective incident reporting mechanism is to process incidents as effectively as possible and minimize the impact of an attack in your start-up.

With an effective incident reporting mechanism, your employees will always know what to do when a threat is detected. Your IT security team will also be able to take the necessary steps to prevent the attack or minimize the impact of a cyberattack in your business.

VIII. Outsource IT Services

Due to strained resources, start-up owners often lack the resources to optimize their business for cybersecurity. In this case, it’d be wise to get professional assistance.

IT services provide a convenient and reliable way to protect your company’s data. Start-ups and other small businesses are often targeted by hackers due to their lack of experience in dealing with cyberattacks and the tendency to use outdated software.

Outsourcing your cybersecurity functions to a company that specializes in IT security gives you a chance to focus on expanding your business.

IX. Set Up a Reliable Backup Strategy

Employees are often targeted with social engineering attacks such as phishing. Just one inadvertent click on a phishing email can lead to the loss or destruction of data and bring your business activities to a screeching halt.

But if you are properly backed up, you can quickly recover your data and get back to business. Backing up mission-critical company data is the last defense against a cyberattack.

A good backup strategy gives your business a way to restore lost or destroyed data and can help you recover from a ransomware attack.

X. Periodically Assess Vulnerabilities and Keep Up with the Latest Hacking Trends

If you are serious about data security, you need to make sure that you carry out periodic assessments of the vulnerabilities in your network. As stated earlier in the article, cyberthreats are constantly evolving and a single, one-time risk assessment just doesn’t cut it.

Frequently stress your system to identify new loopholes. Additionally, it helps to stay on top of the latest hacking trends. That way, you learn about new risks as they emerge. Staying ahead of cyber threats will help you ensure that potential vulnerabilities are patched before it’s too late.

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur, you may even find yourself thinking that your young start-up is not at risk of attack but you couldn’t be more wrong. While news of their attacks doesn’t often make the headlines, start-ups and small businesses account for almost half of all cyberattacks.

Factors such as inadequate or non-existent security systems, lack of dedicated IT staff, etc. make start-ups an easy target for cybercriminals. Failing to put serious cybersecurity protections in place is just asking for trouble.

Do you want to start working from home? A lot of organizations now, including Facebook are brainstorming on the ideas to approve remote working. This would provide help even in time of crisis, natural disasters or like the recent pandemic.

Since covid-19, a lot of measures are being put in place to reduce the risk of infection. The coronavirus has forced the government to encourage social distancing techniques.

This includes isolation in various homes, consistent use of hand sanitizers, and a distance of at least two meters for people who need to leave their homes.

Social distancing has negatively impacted various economies around the world. Production lines in factories have been stopped and nations are closing borders and halting the free flow of travel.

However, because of the level of technological advance in the last few decades, we no longer rely on physical contact to facilitate certain kinds of work.

Some individuals work full-time on their computers as online freelancers. Firms have also set up remote workplaces for workers to connect to periodically. As a result of the pandemic, offices have been instructing employees to work from their homes.

This way, tasks can be continued while the world is awaiting the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

Understanding Risks Of Remote Working

Remote working is very convenient and can be handled from the comfort of your bed, your couch or even a park. However, just like everything else, it comes with its own disadvantages.

As you’re diligently working to complete your office tasks, there are also others working to disrupt your activity. They’re known as cybercriminals or hackers.

These hackers understand a lot more employees are working remotely in the world right now and are doubling their efforts to breach the security of your device.

When you connect to your online work from home, you’re highly likely to use your personal devices and network. This way, it would be easier for a cybercriminal to penetrate your system. When you work in the office, there’s a cybersecurity team to protect your work device from the security risks.

Working from home is a totally different story. Your device could have several security leaks and lack the necessary tools to prevent hackers from breaching your privacy.

Cybercriminals typically hack devices for two major reasons. To get financial remuneration or to target specific information. Either way, the consequences are devastating and could have long-term negative effects.

Because of you, sensitive files about your company could be leaked or your firm’s online workplace could be compromised.

There are certain threats that exist on the internet to target remote workers. These risks are explained below.

Breached Public Wi-Fi

Hackers use public Wi-Fi to obtain information from a large group of people. Individuals may connect to public Wi-Fi when they are in places like cafes, restaurants, malls, etc.

A cybercriminal would then perform a man-in-the-middle attack to place a device between the users and the network. This way, information can be gleaned from the numerous users that link to the Wi-Fi network.

In essence, all activities performed online by users would be seen and recorded by the hacker. Unencrypted chats, social media login information, email logins and even internet banking login details could fall into the hands of the hacker as you work remotely.

Malware and Ransomware

Malware is one of the most dangerous threats on the internet. Depending on the type of malware, a device could be remotely controlled by the cybercriminal. It is one of the ways hackers can get a lot of information from your computer.

Malware could be gotten from several sources. You could get it while surfing the internet and downloading files that seem useful. You could get it from email attachments sent to you. You could even get it while installing an ‘antivirus’ from one of those pop-up adverts you see on the internet.

Possibly the worst thing about having malware on your device is that you would be ignorant of its existence. The malware could perform activities like mining cryptocurrency on your device or stealing passwords to your various accounts.

Ransomware is considered the most damaging type of malware on the internet. Cybercriminals behind ransomware typically seize all of your information in exchange for a ransom. Threats would be made to leak your personal information on the internet until you make financial remuneration.

Phishing

Phishing is the act of duplicating a website, usually one that facilitates logging in to an account, to steal a user’s details. Hackers have typically used phishing right from the mass adoption of the internet. The bad part is, a lot of people fall victim to phishing because they’re not tech-savvy or cyber-conscious.

Phishing is usually facilitated with an email. The email would create a sense of urgency, stating that action would need to be performed immediately. The email could even mention your account is being threatened. In the email, there would be a link to ‘log in’ to your account.

The cloned page would be an almost perfect duplicate of the original website’s login page. Immediately you fix in the details on the page, your information would be sent to the hacker.
Phishing emails usually target online banking and social media accounts.

Low-Security Level for Remote Working Devices and Network

Despite the fact that you’re working from home, you’d most likely not use your work device and network. Your office system and network are adequately protected with tools like antiviruses and firewalls.

You may not have an antivirus on your PC and your firewall might have been deactivated to stop those ‘annoying’ pop-ups. This way, you’re more vulnerable to the risks on the internet.

Your Wi-Fi system could also lack necessary security updates, especially if it is an older version. A cybercriminal near your place could breach your network’s privacy and spy on your activity. Professional hackers could even hijack your connection.

Even an action such as using the default Wi-Fi password could lead to a breach of your network. A simple search engine query could reveal your password for anyone to connect to.

Once inside the network, the hacker could do anything he/she wishes, such as turning your Wi-Fi router into a bot.

Tips to Protect Devices From Remote Working Threats:

• Strengthen your Passwords

During remote working, it is more crucial than ever to change your passwords if they’re weak. An example of a weak password is one used for multiple accounts. In the event that a cybercriminal gets a password from any of your accounts, your other accounts would be exposed.

In this case, the hacker would utilize a method called credential stuffing. It involves using a single password to breach the privacy of other online accounts.

Another example of a weak password is one that contains elements of one’s personal life like a pet’s name or a relative’s name. All it would take for a security breach by the hacker would be a visit to your social media account. A few guesses would eventually lead the hacker to gain access to your account.

Different strong passwords should be used for different accounts. An instance of a strong password is one with at least eight characters with a mix of upper and lower case letters, symbols, and numbers.

If you’re finding it hard to remember all your passwords, you can use a password manager. Password managers save different passwords across your accounts and can even autofill your passwords for you. Their features also include creating a secure password for you if you’re not keen on racking your brains for a password.

• Activate Two-factor Authentication

When massive data leakages happen, several passwords get leaked. In this case, having a strong password wouldn’t do you much good. This is why you need to activate two-factor authentication for your remote workplace account.

Two-factor authentication is an added layer of security that protects an account. To a hacker, your password would prove to be useless if your account is protected with two-factor authentication. The extra security could be in the form of a code sent to your registered email or phone number.

Also, remember to activate an extra layer of security on your devices such as fingerprint or iris unlock. In that case, when your device gets lost or stolen, the cybercriminal would not be able to steal sensitive files about the firm.

• Pay for a VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It works by routing your Internet traffic through a server in a region you chose to connect to, thereby protecting your online activity. Practically, a VPN acts as a protective barrier between the online traffic flowing to and from your device. In fact, it stops your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from tracking your activity.

VPNs protect your personal information by hiding your IP address, ensuring that you are anonymous on the internet, browsing with no worries. It’s very much ideal for remote working.

A VPN is so effective that if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network that has been hijacked by a cyber-attacker, he/she wouldn’t be able to spy on your activity. This is because the encrypted information would be unreadable to the hacker.

VPNs come with various perks applicable during the lockdown such as allowing you to connect to geo-restricted content from any location. That way, you can watch your favorite shows on Netflix or download geo-blocked games. All you’d need to do is to connect to a VPN server in a location that can access the content.

• Boost Your Router’s Security

Some individuals never bother to change their router password after purchase. These networks can easily be broken into by anyone searching the internet for the default password of your router. A hacker can even get onto the network, spy on your internet activity, and steal your files.

For remote working, you need to change your router password to a highly secure one. But that’s only the first step. Boosting your home router’s security goes beyond just changing its password.

You need to make certain firmware updates are installed on the router to prevent security leakages. The router encryption should be set to WPA2 or WPA3. You also need to add a firewall to your router. You can opt for a hardware firewall.

• Activate Your Firewall

A lot of people tend to switch off firewalls on their devices to stop its numerous ‘annoying’ pop-ups. They’re ignorant of the fact that firewalls protect devices from malware attempting to sneak into devices.

A firewall is considered the first line of defense against spyware, malware, and ransomware. It works by closing communication ports between your device and the internet. Suspicious data packets would be blocked from penetrating your device, thus freeing your system from all forms of malware.

Operating systems typically come with default firewalls. To activate Windows Firewall, you can head over to the Control Panel, click on ‘System and Security’ and select ‘Windows Firewall’. If you are a Mac user, you can go to ‘System Preferences’, then ‘Security & Privacy’, then ‘Firewall’ tab and enable Firewall on Mac.

• Default Suspicion of Emails

You need to be suspicious of emails that you receive. This is effective in preventing malware from being installed on your device or your account details from being phished. Make certain you’re familiar with the sender of any mail you’re receiving. Even then, you’d still need to watch out for other stuff.

Phishing is typically used to take over accounts and siphon internet banking information. To stop your information from being phished, you need to double-check the sender’s email address for spelling errors. Phishing emails also typically have several spelling errors and sometimes poor grammar.

If a link has been sent to your mail, hover over the link to see where it leads before clicking on it. Phishing links usually have misspelled domain names so you’d have to take your time to view the link sent to you. If you click on the link, ensure it is HTTPS protected (showing a symbol in the address bar) before fixing in your information.

If you’re sent an email attachment, ensure that you’re familiar with the sender before download. You can do this by scrutinizing the email address.

• Use Encrypted Chat Applications

If your work requires a high level of privacy, such as journalism, and you need to secure the information sent to your colleagues, endeavor to use encrypted chat apps. Chat applications that use end-to-end encryption ensure that your messages can only be seen by you and the party you’re sending to.

Any hacker attempting to get your conversations with another person would be wasting his/her time.

There are super-private encrypted chat applications such as Signal and Jabber/OTP that employ a high level of encryption, with no information logs stored on company servers.

• Update your Device’s Operating System and Software

Some major hacks in the world could have been stopped if the devices utilized updated operating systems. Operating systems have full-time developers working day and night to make security patches, enhancing your level of protection when you’re using your device.

Often, outdated operating systems could increase your vulnerability to hackers. Cybercriminals never stop working around the clock to install different forms of malware on your device through obsolete software and browser plug-ins or extensions. To frustrate their efforts update your operating system to the latest one available and upgrade your software frequently when you’re prompted to.

You can activate automatic OS updates on your device if you’re not certain you’d remember to update your device.

• Use Office Tools for Messaging and Uploads

If tools like Microsoft Office 365 or corporate messengers like Slack are being used in your office, you can utilize them for communication and file sharing from home. This way, you get to keep company messages and files secure.

Uploading files on a different service like your Google Drive could make your company files public. For instance, when you create a link to a Google Drive file that could be accessed by a colleague in your office, search engines would read that information as public an index it.

Anyone searching for anything on the internet related to the file would be able to access it.

Conclusion

The world has been forced into isolation since the coronavirus pandemic. Workplaces, in a bid to obey government and organization health guidelines, are asking employees to work from home.

However, despite the increased convenience that comes with remote working, there’s a looming threat.

Hackers are increasing efforts to get more victims for their selfish activities. They’re using methods such as Wi-Fi hacking, malware, and phishing to get sensitive information out from remote workers’ devices.

To foil their efforts, you can use a VPN, scrutinize emails sent to you, strengthen your passwords, and use private chat applications. For a heightened level of security, you can activate two-factor authentication for your devices and accounts, boost router security, and update your device’s operating system and software.