Page 19 - Cyber Defense eMagazine - November 2017

HOME OFFICE CYBER PROTECTIONS

by Tal Vegvizer, Director of R&D of BUFFERZONE

Nine to five ain't what it used to be; today, you have to add about a half hour in each direction to
account for commuting time (that doesn't include time spent looking for parking in the city or at
the train station, walking back and forth to the parking lot/train station, etc.). According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the average American commute was 26.4 minutes long in 2015 – but
honestly, do you know anyone who can get to or from work in under an hour?

Actually, you do – it's the workers who get to stay at home and telecommute. Those same
Census Bureau statistics show that the number of workers who do their jobs at home has grown
at a healthy clip, more than tripling in the past 25 years, and up 5% between 2014 and 2015
(the last year for which the Bureau has figures).

Fortunately, the technology exists to enable home workers to participate in office life fully, being
“there” in everything but their bodies. Videoconferencing software via devices like tablets and
smartphones, fast and robust networks, connected computers using secure protocols, systems
that are armored with corporate level security systems – working at home should be as cyber-
safe as working at the office, and offers the advantage of letting employees avoid slogging
through traffic – ensuring a happier and more productive employee, according to many studies.

But that is just the problem: Who said working at the office was cyber-safe, anyway? By all
measures, the state of cybersecurity in corporate America is lousy, and it's getting worse.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, some 1,100 major data breaches were
reported in 2016, 40% more than in 2015. 2017 isn't over yet, but there have already been more
major data breaches this year than in 2016, with high-profile hacks of organizations like Equifax,
the SEC, Dun and Bradstreet, the IRS, River City Media, OneLogin, Verizon, and many others.
Meanwhile, a study by Ponemon and IBM says that each data breach costs victims $4 million
each on average; according to Forbes, losses to cybercrime will exceed $2 trillion by 2019. To
protect themselves in 2018, companies are set to spend some $90 billion.

19 Cyber Defense eMagazine – November 2017 Edition
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