In this episode of the podcast (#179), Kayne McGladrey of IEEE and Pensar Development joins us to talk about the cyber risks posed by COVID and why COVID-themed phishing emails shouldn’t be your only concern.

The emergence and spread of the COVID 19 virus has upended societies and economies around the world. In just one sign of the impact of the virus, the U.S. Congress this week is voting on a two trillion (with a “T”) dollar bailout for families and businesses idled by quarantines and lockdowns.

Even for those whose work hasn’t ground to a halt, COVID has transformed the work you’re doing: offices are closed and tens of millions of Americans are telecommuting -some for the first time. And, right on cue, security firms have been quick to jump on that change, talking up the cyber risks of telecommuting and remote meetings. But how much of that is marketing hype and how much is real?

Kayne is a member of IEEE and the CISO of Pensar Development.

To get a sober assessment, we invited Kayne McGladrey an IEEE member and CISO of Pensar Development into the studio to talk about the variety of risks that remote working introduces. At the 10,000 foot level, Kayne tells me, there isn’t much new about the threats remote workers face and those faced by workers in traditional office settings. Phishing emails hyping COVID 19 cures and sensational headlines are more of the same. There are, however, some new risks that companies need to account for: from remote access bottlenecks to prying eyes in insecure home offices to insecure home workstations.

In this conversation, Kayne and I talk about how companies can best manage the cyber security risks of our “new normal.”

As always,  you can check our full conversation in our latest Security Ledger podcast at Blubrry. You can also listen to it on iTunes and check us out on SoundCloud, Stitcher, Radio Public and more. Also: if you enjoy this podcast, consider signing up to receive it in your email. Just point your web browser to securityledger.com/subscribe to get notified whenever a new podcast is posted.