It’s a Tuesday night. You finished an invoice, closed the laptop and went to bed. While you slept, your teenager used the same computer to grab a “free” movie download. In the morning, your work email has sent strange messages to three clients, and a folder of client files won’t open.

Plenty of home offices run on the same computer the family uses for homework, games and shopping. That computer holds tax returns, bank logins, client documents and the email account your business runs on. One bad click puts all of it at risk.

The good news: you don’t need a second house or an IT department to fix this. You need some separation, a backup you can trust, and protection on every device. Here’s how to do it this week.

Why the shared computer is the weak spot

Criminals don’t care whose click let them in. Malware that lands in one account on a computer can often reach whatever that account can reach, and if that account is an administrator, that can be most of the machine.

The money involved is real. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, with reported losses of $20.877 billion (FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report). Business email compromise, where criminals take over or fake a business email account to redirect payments, accounted for $3,046,598,558 of those losses in the same report. For a home office, your email account is the business.

Step 1: Give work its own login

This is the single biggest fix, and it’s free.

• Create a separate user account for work. On Windows, go to Settings > Accounts > Other users and add an account (Microsoft’s guide). On a Mac, go to System Settings > Users & Groups (Apple’s guide).
• Make everyday accounts “standard,” not administrator. That includes the kids’ accounts and, ideally, your own daily work account. Keep one administrator account with a strong password that you use only to install software.
• Give the kids their own accounts. Their games, mods and downloads stay in their space, not in the folder where your client files live.

A standard account can’t silently install most software or change system settings. That one speed bump stops a lot of “I just clicked install” accidents.

Step 2: Keep work files and passwords out of family space

• Store client and business files only inside your work account, not on the shared desktop or a shared folder.
• Use a separate browser profile for work, and don’t let the family browser save your work or banking passwords.

Step 3: Lock down your work email

If someone gets into your email, they can reset the passwords to almost everything else, and they can send invoices that look like they came from you.

• Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your email, bank, payment and accounting accounts. CISA explains how in plain language (CISA: Turn on MFA).
• Use a long, unique password for your work email that you don’t use anywhere else.
• Tell clients: “I’ll never change my payment details by email alone. Call me to confirm.” That one sentence protects them, and you.

Step 4: Update everything, not just your laptop

Old software is an open window. Turn on automatic updates for Windows or macOS, browsers and the apps you use most (CISA: Update software). Don’t forget the kids’ laptops and the old desktop in the basement that still gets used for printing. If it’s on your home network, it counts.

Step 5: Back up like ransomware is coming

Ransomware locks files and demands payment. Your best answer is a backup the attackers can’t reach.

• Keep at least one copy of your work files offline: an external drive you plug in to back up, then unplug. CISA’s ransomware guide recommends maintaining offline, encrypted backups and testing them regularly (CISA #StopRansomware Guide).
• A cloud backup is a good second copy. Just know that a synced folder can sync bad changes too, so it isn’t a replacement for an offline copy.
• Once a month, try restoring one file. A backup you’ve never tested is a hope, not a plan.
• Some endpoint protection, including the SentinelOne agent in both EDR For Home plans, can also roll files back after a ransomware attack (Windows only). That’s a useful extra, not a substitute for an offline backup, and it doesn’t work on Macs.

Step 6: Put protection on every device that touches work

Separate accounts help, but they won’t stop every threat. The protection on your computers needs to act on its own, at 2 a.m., when nobody is watching the screen.

That’s the job of endpoint protection set to stop threats automatically. It watches what programs do, such as a download suddenly encrypting files or a script launched from an email attachment, and stops them on the device. Put it on every computer in the house that can reach your work, not just the one you think of as “the work laptop.”

Step 7: Write a one-page “if something goes wrong” plan

You won’t think clearly in the moment, so decide now. Tape this inside a cabinet door:

1. Disconnect the affected computer from Wi-Fi or unplug the network cable. Don’t turn it off yet if you may need to investigate.
2. From a different, clean device, change your work email password and check that MFA is still on.
3. Call your bank if any payment or banking login may be exposed.
4. Tell clients if your email sent anything strange, so they don’t pay a fake invoice.
5. Report it at ic3.gov.
6. Restore from your offline backup once the computer is clean.

Where EDR For Home fits

EDR For Home brings the SentinelOne agent businesses use to home PCs and Macs. It’s set to Protect, so it uses AI on the device to stop threats on its own, and you choose which alerts you get. It’s software only: no one monitors your devices, and there’s no 24/7 monitoring or support. You install it yourself using our Help Center.

There are two plans. Control gives you AI antivirus, firewall control, USB/Bluetooth device control and 1-click rollback of files after ransomware on Windows (rollback isn’t available on Mac or Linux). Complete includes everything in Control, rollback included, plus investigation tools you use yourself in your own console, like Storyline and threat hunting.

For a home office that shares the house with a family, the Home Office plans cover up to 10 devices. They start at $39.97 a month for Control, or you can pay once with a 1-Year Prepaid plan that doesn’t renew: Control Home Office is $407.97 for the year and Complete Home Office is $863.97. Smaller households can start with Control Family (up to 4 devices) at $203.97 for the year. See all plans in our shop. Every plan comes with a full refund if you ask within 30 days of your first paid charge (refund policy).

FAQ

Is it safe to run my home business on the family computer?

It can be, if you separate it. Give work its own user account, make everyday accounts standard instead of administrator, turn on MFA for work email, keep an offline backup, and run endpoint protection on every device in the house.

Does a separate user account really make a difference?

Yes. A standard account can’t silently install most software or change system settings, and your work files stay out of the accounts the kids use. It won’t stop every attack, which is why backups and endpoint protection still matter.

What should I do first if my work email gets hacked?

From a different, clean device, change the email password and confirm MFA is on. Then warn clients not to act on recent payment requests, call your bank if needed, and report it at ic3.gov.

Does EDR For Home watch my computers for me?

No. EDR For Home is software only. The SentinelOne agent is set to Protect and stops threats on the device automatically, and you choose which alerts you get. There’s no 24/7 monitoring, no SOC and no 24/7 support.

Sources

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report (released April 2026): www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_ic3report.pdf
• FBI press release, “Cryptocurrency and AI Scams Bilk Americans of Billions,” April 6, 2026: www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/cryptocurrency-and-ai-scams-bilk-americans-of-billions
• CISA, Secure Our World – Turn on MFA: www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/turn-mfa
• CISA, Secure Our World – Update software: www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/update-software
• CISA, #StopRansomware Guide (offline, encrypted, tested backups): www.cisa.gov/stopransomware/ransomware-guide
• Microsoft Support, Create a local user or administrator account in Windows: support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-20de74e0-ac7f-3502-a866-32915af2a34d
• Apple Support, Set up users, guests and groups on Mac: support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-users-guests-and-groups-on-mac-mtusr001/mac
• SentinelOne, Singularity Core (1-click rollback, Windows) and Singularity Complete FAQ (Control and Complete include all Core features): www.sentinelone.com/platform/singularity-core/ and www.sentinelone.com/platform/singularity-complete/