The legal profession is one that can weather through this COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic. We can easily more our place of work from a traditional office setting to a home office with little interruption. But with that transition (especially those not used to working from home), we need to be a bit wearier that our client information is secure. Curious kids, unassuming family members, and those with more nefarious intent can accidentally or deliberately create a security breach, access your client's data files, and cause some bar complaints down the road.

Mitigate this with some simple actions: Password protect your computer!  

• For Mac Users, go to your Apple icon on the top right, select "Security and Privacy," then under the "General" set login password. Power tip: Use the "Require Password" after x minutes when the computer goes to sleep mode or your screen saver begins. This way, you can ensure security should you walk away for a few minutes and forget to log off or shut down the machine. Super Power tip: On the same General" tap, you can use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac (and specific applications)!

• For Windows Users, there are at least two easy ways you can set a password for a user account.

1. Enter your "Control Panel", under "User Accounts and Family Safety" choose "Change Account Type," under "Manage Accounts" select the "User Account" you want to change, click on "Create a Password", enter your password (look for a future post about creating and securing your passwords), renter your password, elect whether your password is case sensitive, and click "Change" password; or

2. On your keyboard, Press Windows+I, select "User and accounts", select sign-in options, under "Password" (look for a future post about creating and securing your passwords) select "Add", create a new password, provide a "New password", reenter the password, provide a password hint (if so desired), click next then click finish. 

Working from home may be a new challenge for some of us; let’s remember to be smart about it when we do!