With the majority of us confined to working from home, video conference calls and online meetings have quickly taken over our day to day interaction among businesses.
Photo: Freepik
However, despite the advancement of our technology, we must face the reality that where people go, cybercriminals follow.
According to Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky, with a lot of countries in Southeast Asia finding ways of using technology to keep their businesses’ continuity while they are under different forms of lockdown, we have seen the rise of video conferencing. Cybercriminals are aware of this trend and they can exploit and infiltrate through different entries, such as insecure Wi-Fi, network without encryption, use of weak passwords, and poor or neglected app permissions, among others.
The problem persists especially when companies lack the means to secure their applications and websites as many organisations are not geared up for people to work from home and are thus trying to understand the challenges in real-time and under exceptional circumstances.
IT departments globally are also facing strains in a form of networking challenges as we see unprecedented numbers of people connecting remotely to corporate networks, putting additional pressure on already strained IT and security infrastructure.
Once a device is taken outside an organisation's network infrastructure and is connected to new networks and WIFI, the risks broaden and increase.
That said, Kaspersky suggests a number of simple steps that organisations can apply, or employees can be asked to take to reduce the cyber-risks associated with remote-connectivity:
- Provide a VPN for staff to connect securely to the corporate network
- All corporate devices – including mobiles and laptops – should be protected with appropriate security software, including mobile devices (e.g. allowing data to be wiped from devices that are reported lost or stolen, segregating personal and work data and restricting what apps can be installed)
- Always implement the latest updates to operating systems and app
- Restrict the access rights of people connecting to the corporate network
- Ensure that staff are aware of the dangers of responding to unsolicited messages
With regards to video conferencing, companies can also:
- Assess the security features of the platform you will use
- Be sure that your apps are updated
- Read and set the permissions carefully, both during the conference and in the storage of the conference recording
- For user authentication, use a single sign-on (SSO) so your IT team can track and verify credentials
- Encrypt and secure your network tightly
- Create a video conferencing policy which will set expectations as well as boundaries amongst all its participants
Follow these steps to stay safe at home and online!
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
