Cybersecure in a minute Blog

The risks of virtual assistants when working from home

Written by Michael A. Alicea, vCxO Michael A. Alicea, vCxO

Created: 22 April 2020 22 April 2020

Companies with staff working from home should be mindful that some of these workers, when outside of the office, may have been accustomed to using virtual assistant devices such as Alexa or Siri or Google Assistant in their homes or with their smartphones. These workers may not be giving much thought to the potential consequences of continuing to use these devices now that they are all day at home discussing work. The concern is these devices/applications are by design “always-on listening devices” and could even be recording. Could confidential telephone or video conversations subject to privacy regulations such as HIPAA be at risk of being improperly stored or even transmitted? 

TAKE ACTION:

If your business is in a sector that mandates that audio communications be protected, your organization will want to remind employees about the risks associated with having these devices around the work area.

 We have training materials and email reminder templates we can share if needed.