COVID-19’s Impact on Fraud in the Contact Center

As the world struggles with the fallout from COVID-19, all aspects of life are quickly changing. Millions of workers are now working from home or other remote locations outside of the normal security configurations of an office. Fraudsters are taking advantage of this disruption to actively steal information that they can monetize. In many cases, companies were not prepared to deal with a large work-from-home workforce, and when they transitioned their employees to remote environments, they mainly considered threats like phishing or cyberattacks.

I was recently asked by a colleague to build a portal to allow engineers to start and stop two Amazon EC2 instances that host software used network discovery and mapping. The intent was to only have them running when necessary to reduce the cost of instances running when they are not in use.  Jokingly, I asked if he wanted me to build this portal on an EC2 instance. He didn’t catch the joke, so I explained that running one full-time instance to control two other instances was probably not going to be very effective at saving money.

Every 11 seconds, someone within the United States is infected with ransomware. That means that by the time you finish reading this blog post, almost 30 people will have their data locked and encrypted unless they pay a cybercriminal a ransom of hundreds or thousands of dollars (hopefully it’s not YOU!).

Security and risk management are always in fashion, but they’re now hotter than ever—and they can help you achieve your organization’s strategic goals.

Zoom: Perception vs. Reality

Negative Press:

We have undoubtedly all heard the many reports questioning the security readiness of Zoom as of late. Are there impactful vulnerabilities, and is Zoom safe? We have even seen negative fallout due to some of the reported concerns. For example, the New York City school system has banned the use of Zoom as a direct result of the perceived security flaws within the Zoom platform. The problem is, much of what we are hearing is more about perception than reality, and the challenge is to sift through the facts versus fiction.

By now, you are in the midst of working from home and trying to define what the “new normal” looks like for you and your family. Reflecting on what that has looked like for me over the course of the past month, I noticed some details that raised my level of concern.

When it comes to planning for a remote and mobile workforce, a lot of companies are entering the second phase of their strategy, in which they are planning for a more permanent solution. The first phase was somewhere along the lines of, “This may not be the best approach, but we just need to get it done.” This included leveraging a lot of free temporary licenses, which typically had 30-90 day expiration dates, so they now need to figure out what’s next. At ConvergeOne, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about permanent solutions with customers. It might be because these customers think the “shelter in place” orders will be getting extended longer than first anticipated, but it might also be because people are seeing firsthand the value of enabling a remote, mobile workforce.

What is that one question that you’re answering repeatedly, every day?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to compel people to work from home, countless companies are now holding daily meetings using web, audio, and video conferencing services from a variety of well-known providers. Though not the sole focus of our attention here, one that has received a significant amount of press is Zoom.

As the “temporary” new normal sets in, some of our traditional methods of connecting users to resources have changed. Here are some ways that networks can adapt to best serve predominately remote workforces.