Business Traveler, July/August 2020

7 2 J U LY A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 b u s i n e s s t r a v e l e r u s a c o m Working remotely makes cybersecurity more critical than ever M obile devices and technology have virtually saturated our everyday lives as general consumers Sure we all probably have that one friend who still uses a flip phone just to cooly be ironic but most of us find our lives inextricably intertwined with our mobile devices As the wave of the novel coronavirus washed over the worlds economies business travel slowed to a trickle leaving companies scrambling to find ways to survive in the midst of a flagging global economy Only now are we seeing some signs of life returning slowly and in fits and starts grounding business travelers who would normally be hitting the road leaving them to plug into work from home schemes instead Fortunately over the past several decades developments in connectivity and computing solutions have become more widespread And since the capabilities have been there for some time a significant and Safe At Home PASSWORDS Most people wind up using the same passwords for different accounts and changing them infrequently if at all Weak and reused passwords are easy to hack strong passwords still need to be changed from periodically and shouldnt be shared better yet get into the habit of using password managers applications that generate unique complex passwords for different online accounts and store them securely ISTOCK FIREWALL Home office devices need firewalls they are the first line of cyber defense Experts advise making sure router and modem firewalls are enabled and property configured Change default administrator usernames and passwords on routers modems and dont forget any connected devices like video doorbells and garage door openers FRAUDULENT E MAIL Phishing scams and other attacks carried out via e mail are the most common means of exploiting employee vulnerabilities Cybersecurity training should include strong warnings about fake e mails Always double check the validity of links or growing proportion of the workforce is already on board with this mode of work However there can be a dark side to work at home as the numbers surge it opens the door to cyber risks that may be well controlled by a large companys IT security measures but not in a vulnerable home office environment The latest headline making example is so called zoom bombing a word play on the ever popular prank of photobombing except a lot worse combined with the name Zoom the free video conferencing software although any video conference can be hijacked regardless of platform The interruptions often take the form of the unwanted participants posting lewd or offensive content Zoom founder and CEO Eric S Yuan says Zoom is shifting all our engineering resources to focus on our biggest trust safety and privacy issues In the meantime Yuan recommends Zooms security features already in place including Avoid sharing private meeting links on social media or other public forums because anyone with the link can join the meeting better yet dont click on them at all Clicking on a phishing link or downloading an infected attachment from home can compromise a companys entire IT system VPN Connecting to unsecured networks can make business data more vulnerable to hacks The best way to keep online traffic private is by using a virtual private network A VPN creates a secure encrypted tunnel that protects the connection from bad actors trying to breach the system It allows employees to safely access their work accounts while working from home or using public WiFi or even when we eventually get back to traveling The FBI recommends exercising due diligence and caution in your cybersecurity efforts CYBERSECURITY POINTERS TO LIVE BY