April Fools! Sophos pranks our own employees – in a good way

In celebration of April Fools’ Day, we decided to have a little fun with the staff at our global headquarters in Abingdon, UK. Lots of us participated in the joke — whether knowingly or not — but it was fun and came with some positive lessons.

Our little prank involved setting up an exercise bike in one of our lifts (that’s an elevator, for all you Americans) and telling everyone they needed to pedal the bike to make the lift go.

A staff-wide email informed everyone about the “people-powered lift,” which would help save energy as part of a government sponsored green initiative. Well, it really didn’t work that way, of course, but it was good for some exercise!

This harmless prank even carries an important lesson about security. We all should remember not to believe everything we see in emails, even if it appears to come from a trusted source.

You never know when an email might be trying to trick you into giving away your passwords or downloading malware.

And if we have to get serious for a minute — go get these five helpful tips to stay safe from phishing and social engineering. Don’t be fooled by dirty tricks!

Careers at Sophos
If you think Sophos seems like a great place to work — you’re right! To find out more about positions at any of our world-wide offices, visit the Sophos Careers page at sophos.com/careers.