Data Protection During the Coronavirus Pandemic

There are many things to learn from the Coronavirus pandemic, and one of them is that you can never be too careful. Coronavirus-related scams have skyrocketed over the past several months. In this blog, we highlight several scams and offer data breach prevention tips.

Video Conferencing Hacks

With social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place, individuals and companies are relying on video conferencing applications as critical communication and productivity tools. However, video conferencing does not come without risks. Hackers are exploiting security holes in many popular video conferencing apps like Zoom. To keep your video conferencing meetings secure, take the following steps:

1. Update the firmware and software on your device before the meeting
2. Use a unique ID for each meeting
3. Require participants to use passwords and/or PINs to join meetings
4. Login with virtual private network (VPN)
5. Activate meeting host approval before participants can join
6. Disable guest screen sharing

Contract Tracing Fraud

Georgia’s Office of Attorney General recently issued a warning to Georgians about COVID-19 contact tracing scams. Fraudsters pose as contact tracers and send text messages to individuals asking them to click on a malicious link. If you receive one of these text messages, delete it. You may also receive a phone call from someone posing as a Public Health Department official who asks for your social security or bank account number. Legitimate contact tracers will never ask you for this information, so hang up the phone and report the call to local law enforcement.

Economic Relief Phishing Scams

Scammers pretending to be from government agencies offering COVID-19 economic relief are emailing fake links to websites that look legitimate, but are actually designed steal your personal information. Many phishing-related data breaches result from carelessness and negligence. Do not click on links or download files before verifying the sender’s email. Back up your data online with an electronic vaulting solution or offline to a portable storage device, and store copies in a secure offsite location.

The Coronavirus pandemic is challenging, but with a little effort and common sense, you can keep your data safe.

For more information security and data breach prevention tips, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.

Records Management Center provides businesses throughout Augusta, Evans, Thomson, and Martinez, GA, Aiken, SC, and the Central Savannah River Area with professional shredding and destruction solutions.