VPNs in the Time of COVID

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmail

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 

In the middle of a global pandemic that upended everyone’s lives in a myriad of ways – the world of work changed profoundly. It was a huge shift. It was hard. It took some time. But, overall, companies learned that “work from home” really works. And while some companies might be heading back to their offices in the near future, many will remain remote or adopt a hybrid model. 

But working from home means there are entirely new security issues to worry about. In the physical office, we had very strong security protocols. And we had IT experts that were tasked with implementing them. 

What about our home networks? Are they as strong? How can we protect our communications? Our company information? Our partners’ and clients’ information?

Also, we are now using cloud-based applications from our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. But are these being used securely outside the safe parameters of our normal security apparatus at work? 

Home Networks Are Not Safe

According to YouGov America, 52% of us who are working from home are using a VPN. Which sounds good at first, until you consider that that means that nearly half of us are not using one at all. In fact, 30% use a VPN “rarely” or “never”! This means that we are entirely at the mercy of the security of home networks. 

It’s absolutely possible for a home network to get hacked. One common method is to guess the password. Routers often come with a preset default password that the manufacturer uses for all devices. Have all your employees changed theirs? 

Another possible issue is wardriving. Wardriving involves attackers searching for vulnerabilities in home networks while moving around an area in a vehicle, bicycle, or on foot. These attackers then use hardware and software to gain unauthorized access to the network by cracking passwords or decrypting the router. While wardriving is less common today, there are no laws that specifically prohibit it. 

Hackers can also exploit security flaws in the router’s firmware. Infrequent firmware updates leave 83% of home WiFi routers vulnerable to attack, according to a study by The American Consumer Institute. 

That’s a problem. But there’s more to the story. Even when we do use supposedly secure home networks, there are issues we may not be aware of. 

Home routers have firmware that may not be up to date. Are you updating all of your software constantly and regularly? If so, you are better than most. ResearchGate found that only half (52%) update our software within a week when updates and patches are released. 

And honestly, how many of us dread getting those notifications to update our software, which usually requires a system reboot? Most of us dread software updates, which leads to many of us not updating our software at all. 

A 2017 Pew Research survey found that 14 percent of people never update their phone’s operating system, and 42 percent only do so when it’s convenient, despite these updates sometimes containing urgent security fixes.

Working from Home Doesn’t Always Mean Working from Home

Another truth is that when we are working remotely, we aren’t necessarily working from home. Many of us work from our local cafe, library, or anywhere else where we can log into a public WiFi network. 

But here’s the thing about logging into public WiFi: anything we do on it can be seen and potentially accessed by anyone else on the network. 

It’s exceptionally easy for novice hackers to spy on anyone using public WiFi. YouTube has hundreds of thousands of videos on how to do it. 

Only a VPN Fully Protects You When Working Remotely

The simple truth is that unless you are working from your physical office on a network that is managed by your company’s IT department, your company information is at risk. This is true even when folks are working from home on a supposedly secure home network. 

And this is true even if teams aren’t working from home 8 hours a day, five days a week. It’s true even if they work a few hours or a few days from home. 

And if they do work from their phone or laptop on a public WiFi network, you can’t be totally sure who sees what they do online. 

The best way to protect your company information when working remotely or from home is to use a VPN. A VPN ensures that they can work from anywhere and you can rest easy knowing that you and your company’s data are completely safe.  

Get Private Wifi   Protect your personal information.
Get DataCompress   Cut your mobile data usage.

Jared Howe

Jared Howe is PRIVATE WiFi’s Senior Manager, Product Marketing Communications. Working in high tech for over 15 years, Jared currently lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and their two cats.

3 Responses

  1. Milanda says:

    Building credit can make life easier, it gives you a better chance of qualifying for loans or credit cards. You also might get lower interest rates, better car insurance rates and a chance to skip utility deposits. Let’s say your score is 450, this range is considered a bad credit.I recommend that You reach out to this professional via his email (creditfixtech@gmail.com) or via his phone number 209-317-3690 to help you fix and boost your credit score. He helped me fix mine and my credit score got boosted by over 150 points. He is the best. Contact him and he will help you fix your credit score

  2. Ryan Dyer says:

    First and foremost, I’m using a VPN (virtual private network) service. That means that my internet traffic is encrypted, so if someone were to snoop on it or try to intercept it, they’d just see gibberish data. This will help keep my information secure from anyone who might be looking for it—including hackers who want to steal your identity or use your data for nefarious purposes.

    I also make sure that all of my devices are updated with the latest software patches so that if there are any security flaws in my operating system or apps, they’ll be patched up automatically before they can be exploited by bad actors

  3. DANIEL RAY says:

    Hello everyone digital trading ( Forex, Crypto and Option ) according to statistic is the best way to earn money working from home. But scammers have made it impossible for anyone to benefit from trading, A lot of people have been scammed and have lost their life savings to scammers. I was once a victim of digital trade fraud, but i was able to recover back my lost funds through the help of MorrisGray830 at gmail com and He also taught me the trick behind trading and also the best strategy to enter the market and when to exist the market. He is offering free tutorial on how to become a successful trader and also how to reclaim your lost funds.

Leave a Reply to Ryan Dyer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.