Video chat meetings are now part of daily operations for so many businesses. When the coronavirus quarantine period started, video conferencing was a bit of a fun novelty. Colleagues who had never tried Zoom were now using it multiple times a day. Sadly, it didn’t take hackers long to realize they could exploit the popularity of video chat platforms to commit cybercrimes. Zoom in particular has experienced so many security issues that many organizations, including school districts in NYC, have banned it. While there are certainly more secure platforms, I use Zoom every day. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Kelser has advised our clients on how to use Zoom and set it up for them. Recently, I was a guest on FOX 61 Morning News to discuss cybersecurity best practices for Zoom.

As I’ve been working remotely for the past several weeks, I started thinking about all the different software that’s replaced our typical office interactions. The conference room has been replaced by video conferencing software like Zoom. Popping over the cubicle wall to talk has now become instant messaging like Slack. Email and phone are basically the same – especially if you have a soft phone or VoIP capability. File sharing and collaboration is also, depending on what you had setup previously, mostly the same with software like Dropbox or your traditional file servers accessed through a VPN. But what all this software doesn’t replace is the platform to have all these interactions happen and interact with one another. Previously that was the office itself.

Kelser Corp announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Kelser to its 2020 Tech Elite 250 list. This annual list acknowledges the top tier of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology suppliers, scaled to their company size.

It seems like overnight most of us joined the remote workforce. Even for companies that already have the infrastructure in place to handle a situation like this, it has made for the ultimate stress test. For other businesses, it’s been a wake-up call as many now find themselves building the proverbial boat as they’re floating down the river. As we continue into the new temporary reality of long-term remote work and social distancing, I’ve been thinking a lot about the security considerations of working from home versus working in the office.

Glastonbury, CT – Kelser Corporation announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company has named Kelser to its 2020 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Elite 150 category. This popular list identifies North American solution providers that deliver operational efficiencies, IT system improvements, and a higher rate of return on investments for their customers. These accomplished MSPs work tirelessly to guide their customers and create solutions for complex IT issues.

The world learned last week that the information of over 10 million hotel guests at MGM Resorts was obtained by hackers. The data breach is the result of a security incident that occurred last year, but the data was being shared in hacker circles recently and discovered and verified by ZDnet. Most of the data is limited to hotel stay info, addresses, and phone numbers dating back to 2017 and earlier. Since Kelser is a trusted, local managed service and cybersecurity provider, FOX61 News had Kelser CTO Jonathan Stone on following the breach to discuss what hackers can do with this type of apparently harmless information.

The latest issue of Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine tells the story of how I was at a conference—a cybersecurity conference of all things!—and it provided an unsecure general access wireless network. There was no preregistration for this network and the password was distributed freely to attendees. Most attendees wound up using the hotspots on their phones. Many conferences and events of all types have inadequate cybersecurity protections in place. The Wi-Fi networks offered at these events may seem more secure than public Wi-Fi, but in most cases, they are not. In fact, they could be more dangerous to use because hackers interested in a particular type of data can target the network of a specifically relevant conference (rather than the general network of a coffee shop, for instance).

Hopefully you’re reading this on a device that is running an operating system other than Windows 7. If not, I have some bad news for you. You’re on your own.