The coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented many hurdles for businesses, such as financial hardships, personal trials, and cyber vulnerabilities. Like most crises, cyber criminals prey on the vulnerable populations. For example, retail and manufacturing industries have taken the biggest hit likely because they remained open and hiring so they provided more opportunity for cyber criminals to target. Whereas, other industries saw countless layoffs and furloughs or closed their doors completely lessening the chances for a cyber-attack. Cyber crime detection increased one-third when COVID-19 emerged.
Here are some tips to improve cyber protection, prevention, and liability.
Protecting Your Business Meetings. As many businesses transitioned to remote workplaces, the reliance on virtual business meetings became more prominent. Zoom, a popular videoconferencing provider, endured an unfavorable number of meeting hacks. To protect your business meetings, here are a few tips:

• Disable guests from screensharing capabilities, which can deter guests from controlling the meeting or presenting inappropriate things.
• Require the meeting host to be present prevents others from starting the meeting.
• Do not share your personal meeting ID and use a unique meeting ID for each meeting.
• Utilize passwords for each meeting so only those with the password may enter the meeting.
• Create a waiting room, where guests must wait until a meeting starts and the host must manually admit them to the meeting.

Invest in Cyber Security Awareness Training. There are many companies and software programs that offer cybersecurity awareness training. These trainings can cover topics such as phishing emails, malware, safe internet habits, encrypting sensitive data, addressing data breaches, and adequate passwords. Whether you find a comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training or hone in on particular trainings most relevant to your industry or business, it is worthwhile to make the investment in protecting both your business and your clients from potential cyber-attacks.
Develop Remote Work Policies and Procedures. As employees return to work or remain in remote work environments, implementing remote work policies and procedures is critical to ensuring business compliance in all facets of business operations. Some considerations include work hours, expectations during work hours, workers’ compensation policies and procedures, and cybersecurity protocols. For employees with work computers supplied by the employer, the employer should ensure that proper cybersecurity policies are communicated and enforced. For example, reminding employees that work computers are strictly to be used for work-related purposes (i.e., not surfing the web, working on personal projects, etc.). Other policies could include required cybersecurity awareness training and communications regarding tips for identifying cyber threats.
Cyber liability and attacks are not going to dissipate on their own. It takes diligence and continuous training of employees and upgrade and maintenance on technology to truly combat cyber crimes. VensureHR is partnered with Core ID Services, a cyber liability insurance and cyber protection provider that offers individual, family, and business cyber detection and protection services. Partnering with VensureHR offers you access to our full suite of competitive, comprehensive benefits that can improve your employee relations. Contact VensureHR today to see how you can take control of your business cybersecurity.