3 Tips to Protect Your Privacy in a Post-Pandemic World

Here are a few tips to help manage privacy threats in a post-pandemic world:

1. Know Your Risks

The COVID-19 pandemic caused privacy risks to spike, and Americans have had to do battle on several fronts:

• Since the stay-at-home-order began, IDX’ members have experienced a 50% increase in the number of targeted scams and phishing attacks via email, call, and texts.
• Nearly one-fifth of all phishing emails identified on the Gmail platform—more than 18 million daily—contain coronavirus or COVID-19-related content.
• Zoombombers have invaded the most intimate events held on the video-conferencing platform, including an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in New York and a Sunday school in Texas.
• Unemployment fraud has increased right along with the unemployment rates. The Seattle Times reports that Washington state paid between $550 million to $650 million in fraudulent claims—as much as one of every $8 paid in benefits during the pandemic.
• Contact tracing apps designed to track the spread of the disease have sparked an ongoing “data privacy versus public safety” debate.

While the risks may come and go, one thing remains certain: fraud follows misfortune. Cyber-crooks will always prey on widespread fears about our health, our jobs, and our safety— and we need to stay vigilant.

In a recent interview, Tom Kelly, president and CEO of IDX, spoke of education, noting that “an informed public generally makes better decisions than an uninformed public.” Kelly also noted that the more people know about data mining, the more motivated they’ll be to demand products that give them control over their own data.

2. Practice Good Security Hygiene when Working from Home (WFH)

Even as the pandemic lifts, many Americans will remain at their homes, working remotely for the foreseeable future. According to a recent Gartner survey, 74% of CFOs plan to move at least some employees to remote work permanently. Some common-sense precautions to take:

• Be cautious of connecting to corporate networks using personal devices that haven’t been vetted and may not be patched against the latest bugs.
• Only use your work computer for work. It’s easy to let your guard down when looking at personal email or browsing the web.
• Be cautious of any attachment from emails you don’t recognize. Criminals are continually looking for new ways to steal personal data and create emails that look similar to people you may know.
• Never use public WiFi networks. These are not secure against hackers. If you go into a public space of any kind—like a grocery store, pharmacy, or a park—turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
• Always opt-into two-factor authentication whenever possible.
• Use biometric security like a fingerprint or facial recognition on your mobile device.
• Stay alert with identity and privacy protection. Proactively safeguard your privacy with a strong detection service, available either through your employer’s voluntary benefits program or on your own.

3. Lobby for Privacy Legislation

In his interview, Kelly called for federal intervention. Recent years have shown that companies need clear rules outlining their obligations to consumers and shouldn’t be trusted to self regulate. Those obligations should include informing consumers exactly what data is being extracted, what that data is being used for, and how consumers can request that their data be erased.

So far, federal lawmakers are at an impasse, inspiring several states to propose their own privacy legislation. While it’s true that Democrats and Republicans both proposed COVID-19 privacy bills, they appear to differ on the issues of enforcement and pre-emption— the same stumbling blocks they face for passing a general privacy law.

At IDX, we vigorously support national privacy legislation, and we invite you to do the same. Speak to your representatives or senators in the U.S. Congress, and make your voice heard.

Together, we can protect our personal privacy, now and in a post-pandemic world.