Kaspersky issued a press release with comments and tips for proper use of group meeting applications:
“In times like these, people are mostly looking for comfortable and easy ways to keep in touch with their loved ones digitally and rightly so, they are overlooking some issues in trying to connect in the best and easiest way possible. Everyone should make their own decisions about how much information they feel comfortable sharing on Internet. However, by asking yourself a few key questions, and keeping some of the following important tips in mind, you can safely connect and communicate with your loved ones," says David Emm, Principal Security Researcher in Kaspersky.
Questions to ask yourself before downloading any application:
- How the application makes money; If it's free, you're probably paying with your information, so take a look at the permissions to see what data they collect, store and reuse.
- Is the data encrypted by the application?
- Be aware of social tactics engineerings. How do you know that the users of the app you're connecting to are who they say they are? And how can you verify the information or links they send you?
- Remember nothing is 100% safe. While you may not be as interesting a target for an attacker as Jeff Bezos, we can all fall victim to hacking while using apps.
Top Ten Tips for Using Any Application:
- Carefully review the privacy and security settings.
- You use unique, complex passwords accesss for all your online accounts.
- Restrict the information you share that may be viewed by others.
- Do not automatically trust anyone, check with the contacts that he is really the one who connected with you in the application.
- Disable functions unless you use / need them to enable access (eg microphone, camera access, etc.).
- Do not share too much information and do not publish something that you do not want everyone to see.
- Report cases of abuse.
- Protect all your devices with a reliable cybersecurity product.
- Install operating system and application updates as soon as they become available.
- If it's related to work, insist on using the app recommended / provided by your company and not your favorite group meeting app.
