TABLE OF CONTENTS

• To Print, or Not to Print?
• Keep Your Screen Clean
• Your Workspace- Population: Just You…?
• Above All Else, Lock Your Screen

A while back, we covered Personally Identifiable Information, better known as PII, in the article PII and Sending Documents Securely. In that article, we talked about keeping it safe from prying eyes online; sending securely so hackers or other nefarious actors couldn’t get their hands on it. That’s all well and good, and obviously important, but it’s equally important to keep PII safe in the offline world as well. Follow the guidelines below to keep PII safe in the office or at home.

One of the biggest concerns when dealing with PII is printing. A sheet of paper is easily lost or stolen. That’s why it’s best to avoid printing PII whenever possible, especially at home. If you absolutely must print something containing PII, secure it in a locked filing cabinet as soon as possible, and never store it at home, only at the office. If you don’t need the printed document for very long, you should shred it as soon as you’re done with it. If you don’t have access to a shredder or can't lock your documents up, you probably want to skip printing anything out that contains PII.

No, not with anti-static wipes (although that’s important, too); if you’re working with PII, you don’t want anything on your screen that you’re not working with. Otherwise, someone could walk by and see personal information they’re not supposed to see. For that reason, as soon as you’re done working with a file containing PII, close it. Doing that will reduce the chances of someone seeing something they’re not supposed to.

Both at home and in the office, keep track of who has access to your workspace. Depending on who’s coming and going, any documents containing PII that are left out or left up on your screen could have an unintended audience. If you can control access to your workspace in some way (for example, if you have a home office you can lock), it’s probably a good idea to implement whatever measures you can.

As we cover in every IT Onboarding (you remember your IT Onboarding, right?), you should lock your screen whenever you get up from your desk, whether you’re at home or in the office. It may not seem necessary if you’re at home or you’re only going to be up for a minute or two, but while you may only plan to be up from your desk briefly, things come up unexpectedly. You might end up being up from your desk for longer, and who knows who might wander in before you get back. To avoid any complications, lock your screen by pressing the Windows and L keys at the same time whenever you get up from your desk.