“Ok Google, record my confidential conversations!”
Home Becomes a Networked Office
The Covid 19 pandemic has forced many companies abruptly to rethink their approaches. For most employees, remote working was rarely practiced before the pandemic, and working entirely from home was certainly not a part of the daily routine.
Therefore, the organization, its processes, and communications were adapted to the new situation at very short notice. In many cases, the change was so disruptive that the infrastructure could not adapt to the new requirements to the same extent. Nevertheless, 58% of companies intend to maintain or even expand the remote working option even after the pandemic.
In this blog post, we, therefore, want to explain to you the cybersecurity risks that can arise from remote working and how you can make a secure start into the mobile future with the help of a structured plan.
How Secure Is Your Company?
2-factor authentication, VPN, and encryption of data media are still fantasies for your IT department? Then it would be best if you acted immediately.
Unfortunately, VPN (Virtual Private Networks) has not yet been implemented in about one-third of companies. This means that employees access confidential company and customer documents on their own, usually via an insecure network.
This is a critical security aspect that should definitely be fixed. Still, even if a VPN is required to access internal documents, one should not be lulled into complete security. Guessing passwords systematically is usually easier than you think, even without in-depth programming knowledge. Therefore, the use of 2-factor authentication should be part of the standard repertoire of every modern company.
Is it time to panic if you read this blog and think you belong to almost 30% of the companies mentioned above that have no VPN or similar security system? Absolutely not! Every security gap that exists is also a gap that can be closed. The strategy here is to resort to professional support, which audits the company’s weaknesses in so-called penetration testings. In this way, critical gaps are uncovered and can also be closed.
The Enemy in Your Workroom
Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Bixby and Google. If your digital assistant at home has one of these names, the following information will be of interest to you. Google and Co. listen and evaluate every 500th voice command after employees’ statements.
These are said to be “accidentally recorded conversations” through which the digital voice assistants want to improve the recognition of the activation word. These recordings are not analyzed by the manufacturers themselves but by subcontractors.
Usually, this analysis should be anonymized without the disclosure of personal data. However, there have been cases where the speaker was identified clearly. This threat is perhaps only frightening in a private setting, but it should be regarded as highly critical in a professional environment.
Who wants their corporate strategy to go public by Google and Co.? That’s why it’s better to keep out the digital helper in the working room or at least activate the mute function during working hours.
Who Is Supposed to See through That?
For small and medium-sized companies, in particular, eliminating security vulnerabilities is usually a significant obstacle. The aspects presented in this article are also only a fraction of the possible risks that arise from mobile working. Therefore, if in doubt, you should seek professional help to ensure a secure environment in a structural manner.
So don’t panic and make any quick decisions without analysis or a plan of action. We, the Cybersecurity team at Tagueri AG, would be happy to support you and your company as you enter the digital working world. We promise that we will ensure the highest level of cybersecurity for remote working in your company.
Our offers include the entire range of security instruments, from quick checks of your organization and awareness trainings for your employees to penetration testing of your servers and IT landscape. Together we can master the future!
