From the Top | Sye Broussard, Managing Partner at Broussard & Dove, APLC
August 31, 2020
“Punching” On
August 31, 2020
The novel coronavirus altered virtually every aspect of our daily routine and changed life as we knew it.
Businesses, in particular, had to rethink and reshape how to be productive in a world that started calling for less physical human interaction. Thus, they went virtual — moving files, meetings and transactions, among other business needs, to online platforms.
As the nearly endless sea of data on the internet rapidly expanded due to COVID-19, the need for cybersecurity grew as well.
According to CRN, more than 3.2 million records were exposed in the 10 biggest data breaches in the first half of 2020, with eight of the top 10 breaches occurring at medical or healthcare organizations.
“You got more people working from home and connecting to the office resources from their personal computers. So, those personal computers need to make sure that they have the same kind of security that they have at the office,” said Ed Spoon, Internet Services Manager at Houma’s Computer Sales & Services (CSS).
Spoon said the best way to connect to the office from the home is to use a virtual private network, or VPN. “It’s an encrypted connection directly to your office. So you’re not going over the open internet to a TeamViewer or GoToMeeting or something like that,” he explained. “That secures it and encrypts it before you start connecting to anything.”
Email security is vital as well, as the world has seen major companies lose millions due to leaked emails, and on top of that, and perhaps more importantly, expose the data of millions of customers, leaving them susceptible to identity theft and fraud.
“The first thing to do is get your password changed, if you can. If they’ve taken it completely, then you may not be able to do that,” Spoon advised if an employee’s email is hacked. “If you cannot, contact the provider…and see if they can shut it down. In the meantime, either with another company account or create a new account, let your most important contacts know that that address is no longer valid.”
“Get a professional involved to look at the computer to see if there’s any other compromise or just to make sure that it gets completely cleaned and disinfected,” he added.
Spoon also recommended turning on two-factor authentication and having a strong password to take some preventive measure against hacking.
The virtual meeting platform Zoom has been prone to cyber attacks, with hackers “zoombombing” — interrupting meetings to project graphic content or interjecting with other nuisances. Spoon said having up-to-date protection and strong passwords can help prevent those situations.
CSS, located at 1162 Barrow St. in Houma, is an authorized reseller for HP and Xerox. Their experts can configure and repair networks, and CSS also offers managed IT services and internet solutions
“We’ve been doing it for a longtime…We have probably close to 100 years of experience combined with our technicians,” Spoon said. “We have the experience and know-how.” •
