Nothing hackers love more than when you make their job easier. One of the best ways to expose personal information is to snap a picture of your home office and tag it as #WorkFromHome. Sure, it’s a fun trend that connects you to others while working in isolation… but it’s also the perfect opportunity for the bad guys to snatch personal details.
It’s easy to make this serious mistake when you’ve just started working from home. After all, we’re all adjusting to the new normal, staying productive and turning on the camera for online meetings. Tap or click here for some helpful work from home tips.
When you’re proud of your home office setup, it’s tempting to take a selfie and share it with the world—but think twice before you hit “post.” Hawk-eyed hackers can take a single detail from your background and pinpoint sensitive data, including corporate secrets. Here’s what you should do to keep your home office safe.
don’t overshare online
You might think that standing in front of your home computer and snapping a picture of yourself smiling is harmless. In fact, there are several factors that set off alarm bells. For starters, double check your screen — you may have left some confidential information out for the world to see.
If you post a selfie online, potential cybercriminals can zoom in and view the contents of your computer screen. If you’ve dropped an email from your boss, they now know which email address to use to target your team with Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks.
That’s right: a lot of hackers will masquerade as high-level company leaders to break into your computer. This is a tricky form of phishing attack.
This happened a while back with the Komando team. Team members received an immediate message from CEO Barry Young, saying, “I need you for an urgent matter. Please send me your cellphone number.” Instead of promptly following up on email orders, we did our due diligence. We reached out to him through various channels, asking, “Are you sure you sent that email?”
It’s a good thing that we took this step because if we weren’t there, hackers could infiltrate our entire database. Cybercriminals prefer this strategy because it requires just one employee to click a malicious link for malware devils through a company’s network.
Now that everyone is working from home, phishing scams are exploding in popularity. Tap or click here to find out what email is trying to convince you on behalf of your boss.
Bottom Line: Always Watch Your Background
Otherwise, you could leak all kinds of sensitive data. We’re not just talking about email addresses: You can reveal the names of your coworkers, personal web pages, and even the secret software your company uses.
For example, let’s say you use NordVPN, which was recently hacked. When a hacker sees an icon of software on your desktop, it flashes like a lightbulb over his head. They’ve got an easy way to break into your computer.
That’s why it’s important to have a VPN that you can trust. Try the VPN that Kim uses and trust ExpressVPN, our sponsor. Get 3 months free when you sign up for a year at ExpressVPN.com/Kim.
The same goes for any other program. At this point, data breaches happen almost every day. Popular websites and software are constantly under attack, and when hackers break into it, they often leak username and password information to the dark web.
When you upload a selfie of your home office, you are giving the bad guys a golden opportunity. They often scroll through popular hashtags such as #WorkFromHome, #RemoteWork and #HomeOffice in search of this data. Don’t give it to them!
If you still want to upload a photo of your home office setup, blur the background. This is a great trick to keep cyber attackers off your personal trail. Tap or click here for free and powerful photo-editing tools.
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