Tech Tip: Don’t Download Anything You’re Not Authorized to Download

So — you have a big file you need to get over to your printer YESTERDAY and you can’t get it to “send” via email because the file is too big. What should you do?

The right thing to do is contact your IT department or provider, which can assist by installing a secure, commercial-grade, file-sharing application. What you shouldn’t do is download a free copy of Dropbox or some other file-sharing software without checking with IT.

Dropbox and other free apps come with a price: SECURITY. These applications are known for security vulnerabilities and hacks. Plus, if your IT people don’t know about it, they can’t manage it or secure it.

Here’s the golden rule: Never download any software or application without an okay from your IT department or provider.

Alan Edwards, CISM, is chief information officer at Computerware, Inc., in Vienna, Virginia.

tagsAlan EdwardsComputerwarecybersecurityDropboxfile-sharinghackers