Cyber-risks: Data security issues of working from home

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News like “New Malware Using Covid-19 Themed Lures in Phishing Attacks”, “Dramatic Increase in Cyber Attacks”, “Data Breach Impacting Thousands of Emergency Business Loan Applicants” etc. are coming from everywhere. Cyber Security has become a legitimate concern as professionals start to work from home amid this COVID – 19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

During the COVID-19 era, professionals have never been at more risk for a data breach or cyber-attack. With the vast majority of employees now working from home (“WFH”), hackers and cyber-criminals got more opportunities than ever to breach their computer systems.

Here’s what professionals working-from-home need to look for to strike a balance between enabling remote working while ensuring cybersecurity:

Safety and privacy are integral to online collaboration

• Since professionals have started working remotely, the ability to manage who participates in meetings, who can present and who has access to meeting information has become critical more than ever.
• The online meeting organizers must be sure and use controls to decide who from outside the organization can join the meeting directly, and who has to wait in the “lobby” to be let in. For further control, the meeting organizer should be able to designate “presenters” and “attendees,” to ensure no unauthorized attendee can take control of the meeting.
• Equally important is the ability to moderate and control who is and isn’t allowed to post and share content as well as to monitor chats to help prevent negative behaviors like bullying and harassment.
• When recording a meeting, participants should be notified before recording has started and the recordings should be stored in an encrypted repository, available only to those on the call or directly invited to the meeting.

Access is everything

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a simple, two-step verification process that is widely used in many consumer applications today, including for online banking. It protects users from attacks that take advantage of weak or stolen passwords.
• In the case of collaboration tools, having this feature turned on by the IT administrator provides an additional layer of security. Given that cybercriminals are looking for ways to exploit vulnerabilities and leverage the weakest links, protecting usernames and passwords and requiring users to provide a second form of verification to prove their identity can help organizations to strengthen their security perimeter.

 

 

Safeguarding personal data

• It is equally critical to ensure that collaboration tools offered to employees are designed for enterprise-grade deployment.
• They should incorporate industry standard technologies such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) to encrypt all data between devices and the cloud.
• They should also have safety measures for data loss prevention and sensitivity labels to restrict and regulate who can access sensitive information.

Privacy by design

There are ground rules that should not be overlooked while deciding on selecting the right collaboration tool for your organization:

• It should not track user data to serve ads.
• It should delete all data after the termination or expiration of subscription.
• It should give the ownership of customer data to the customer.

To solve data security issues, there are various collaboration tools for communication and sharing data among team members. Tools / software like Signal are encrypted and maximize online data security. The companies must use Signal Private Messenger for their virtual meetings and for sharing their data online.

 

 

Signal is a highly encrypted messaging service and deemed to be the most secure digital communication method on the open market. It gives users the option of being able to erase their own messages within a set period of time, from a week down to just five seconds.

Signal has become very popular with ministers and senior government officials. It’s ‘Disappearing messages’ feature is liked by senior Government figures because it help limit leaks. Recently, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has joined Signal. Others who have joined Signal in the last month include the PM’s Chief of Staff Dominic Cummings and Business Secretary Alok Sharma.

Other senior Government figures who have used Signal for a while include Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

In February 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the encrypted messaging app Signal. On the other hand, the European Commission has also recommended that its staff use Signal.

Signal has also become one of the contact methods to securely provide tips to major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.

In the end, with Signal Private Messenger anyone can keep a very close eye on the security and privacy of their data. It will enable them to communicate securely with peace of mind. Signal makes privacy easy.

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