Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/1239591
3 Insight on Technology May 2020 M A R Y B E T H M A T Z E K , E D I T O R M M AT Z E K @ I N S I G H T O N B U S I N E S S . C O M I t wou ld be a huge understatement to say life has changed dramatica l ly since the Februar y issue of I nsight on Technolog y. T he COVID- 19 pa ndemic has forced us a l l to cha nge the way we do business — whether that means temporar y closures or switching to a model where ever yone works from home. For t hose work i ng at home, tec h nolog y h a s pl ayed a v it a l role i n keepi ng e mployee s a nd their employers connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whi le sur veys show that 43 percent of Americans work from home whether occasiona lly or reg u la rly, t he COVI D-19 pa ndemic ha s more people t h a n ever t a k i ng ca re of bu si ness wh i le at t he i r d i n i ng room t able, i n t he cor ne r of a bedroom or some other location inside their home. T his has led to a new I T issue: keeping employers' data sa fe from cybercrimina ls whi le employees work from home. "The collaborative technology we have now is a game changer," says Tom Wojcinski, director of Wipf li LLP 's risk advisory services practice. "It allows people to work together even when they are physically apart." T hat technolog y, however, opens the door to malicious actors who may want to find a way into a company's network to commit cybercrimes. "When your employees are working from home and using their own computer, the risk of a cyber intrusion increases," Wojcinski says. He adds it's vita l employees bring home the cybersecurity practices they use while in the office, including using unique passwords for different sites, updating all software to make sure the latest avail- able version is running with all of the correct patches, and practicing good cyber hygiene, which includes not opening suspicious emai ls or attachments. E mployers a l so need to do t hei r pa r t to keep t hei r d at a sa fe wh i le t hei r workers a re offsite, Wojcinski says. "Businesses need to ta ke the lead in providing a VPN (virtua l private network) for their workers to use. It's the best way to keep information a nd data safe," he says. "Employers need to remember Cybersecurity more important than ever as more work from home most employees are using their home PCs for work, so it's good to ensure they have updated anti-virus systems in place and keep their operating systems updated." With passwords, Wojcinski recommends tr ying to use t hree unrelated words t hat a re at lea st 12 characters long. And never use the same password for more than one site. "I can't say that enough," he says, adding businesses shou ld use mu ltifactor authentication methods when possible. Wit h more employees work i ng offsite, v ideo meet i ngs h ave become more popu l a r, whet her people turn to Sky pe, Z oom or Google Hangouts. Zoom, especia lly, has some security concerns since the connections are not as secure as advertised. He adds users shou ld blu r t hei r bac kgrou nds or put in a fa ke background. "T hat protects your persona l pr ivac y a nd doesn't a l low someone to dete r m i ne whe re you a re by t he bac k g rou nd . T hat's especia lly true if someone crashes the meet- ing," Wojcinski says. I f businesses were not prepared for employees to work securely from home before the COVID-19 vir us, "you were definitely back on your heels to get something up," Wojcinski says. "Once we are t h roug h t h is, I t h i n k t here w i l l be a lot of post- mortem on what went wel l, what didn't and how it ca n be made better because the odds of people being forced to work from home again are high." Whi le I don't mind working from home — I did as a freelancer for 13 years — I wi l l say video meet- i ngs a re not my favorite, especia l ly si nce one of my cats tends to ma ke a n appea ra nce. It w i l l be interesting to see if the COVID-19 pandemic leads to more people working from home. F O R W A R D