Every year (except for now) the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks is a huge draw to children of all ages. Even I have been found to be singing along to those lovable pirates but … are pirates really lovable? Real pirates are the hackers and the mercenaries of the modern world and … they may have their moments but, for the most part are way more dangerous. So … why do we forget this and sing along … Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s life for me?
For many businesses in pre-virus America and much of the world, video call platforms have been a daily staple of working together at a distance. As COVID-19 changed our cultures and economies, in an instant, Zoom, Google, Skype, WebEx etc. have been thrust into the spotlight. Every school aged child and most working adults now connect in virtual rooms. The security settings that worked for a portion of the workforce are now having to scale to include every human and … well … the pirates are definitely singing.
What can we do to keep the pirates from singing and breaking into our digital wallets and purses? Here are a couple of safeguards that won’t completely stop a professional pirate, but could slow them down enough to make them look for easier targets.
So here’s the thing … in our modern world, we daily trade privacy for convenience. And … there have always been pirates. It is their job to find a weakness in our defenses, whether it is a locked treasure chest or a stolen password. Some may feel that digital tools (email, online purchases, video calls etc.) are too risky to use. I agree that we do not want to allow the pirates to break into song but … with a couple of simple steps, you can greatly protect your information and breathe freely as you engage in the communication tools of the day.
For many businesses in pre-virus America and much of the world, video call platforms have been a daily staple of working together at a distance. As COVID-19 changed our cultures and economies, in an instant, Zoom, Google, Skype, WebEx etc. have been thrust into the spotlight. Every school aged child and most working adults now connect in virtual rooms. The security settings that worked for a portion of the workforce are now having to scale to include every human and … well … the pirates are definitely singing.
What can we do to keep the pirates from singing and breaking into our digital wallets and purses? Here are a couple of safeguards that won’t completely stop a professional pirate, but could slow them down enough to make them look for easier targets.
- For Zoom calls, go into settings and enable the Require Password settings so only those with the link and the password will be able to join your call. This can be done for your account or each time you schedule a call.
- Set Zoom meetings to allow only the host to share their screen. This can be changed in a meeting to allow someone you choose to share.
- In Chrome browser, disable the remember passwords feature. I know this can be convenient to not have to remember your password and type it in each time but … if somehow your email password falls into the wrong hands, so will all the other passwords your browser has remembered.
- Use a different password for each site you log into. Again … this can seem like a hassle but … the whole idea behind passwords are to make it hard for someone to break in and steal your stuff.
- Don’t ever send a password via email to someone else.
So here’s the thing … in our modern world, we daily trade privacy for convenience. And … there have always been pirates. It is their job to find a weakness in our defenses, whether it is a locked treasure chest or a stolen password. Some may feel that digital tools (email, online purchases, video calls etc.) are too risky to use. I agree that we do not want to allow the pirates to break into song but … with a couple of simple steps, you can greatly protect your information and breathe freely as you engage in the communication tools of the day.