Personal cyber risks: Working smart in a hybrid environment
Chubb's Christie Alderman discusses the cyber risks involved with remote work and how to prevent some of these hazards in a hybrid environment.
The arrival of the coronavirus around the globe last year required insurers, schools, physicians and other businesses to adjust to a remote environment quickly. This transition increased numerous personal risks as bad actors shifted their focus from commercial entities to attacking personal networks as people began working from home.
The latest installment of the Insurance Speak podcast features a conversation with Christie Alderman, cyber innovative solutions officer at Chubb, and offers highlights from their recent study addressing how online risks evolved throughout the pandemic, as well as practical insights for mitigating some of these threats.
As businesses switched from in-person to virtual environments, the opportunities for sharing personal data grew substantially. Thirty percent of Chubb’s study respondents estimated that they share their data approximately 10 times a day, but the number for high-net-worth individuals climbed to 100 times a day as people spent more time surfing the internet and purchasing products and services, further highlighting the need for cyber insurance.
In the quest for cyber safety, individuals continue to pose the greatest risks. The perception of ‘home’ being a safe place can lead to more vulnerabilities than many realize. Alderman shares that some of the more common mistakes include using sloppy passwords, using passwords that utilize aspects of their name and personal information such as birth dates, and being casual about clicking on links that pop up on personal computers and other devices. Clicking on the wrong link can release programs that steal personal data or share viruses across a person’s network.
The Chubb report also revealed that 86% of Americans either purchased or were given new electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops in the past year. Because smartphones can be used for so many different purposes, people tend to use them differently and more freely than computers. Alderman recommends creating strong passwords and changing them regularly to keep devices and information secure. She also advises downloading patches and backing up data, using a virtual private network when accessing public networks, and multi-factor authentication for any accounts with logins.
For more information on the increase in personal cyber risks and how to minimize some of the vulnerabilities associated with them, listen to the podcast above or subscribe to Insurance Speak on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play or Libsyn.
Related: