Picture this: Jack sits down at his favorite spot in a local café with a coffee and a laptop. Opening his device, Jack logs onto what he thinks is the business’s private Wi-Fi connection, and then onto his online meetings platform for a text-based conversation with his team members about an important project on which they are working.
Unfortunately, instead of logging onto the business’s official Wi-Fi access point, he logs onto what security professionals refer to as an “evil twin,” that is, a fake Wi-Fi hub designed by a hacker to steal private information. As its name suggests, an evil twin looks and performs just like the network it is mimicking. Oftentimes, an evil twin will even offer excellent signal strength due to the fact that the person operating it is within close proximity (either inside of the facility or in a nearby building or vehicle). An evil twin gives hackers direct access to data flowing across that network.
So, if you or your workers are using public Wi-Fi locations to engage in online meetings, be aware that identifying an evil twin is just about impossible without digging into the technical components of a network. And research from Forrester shows that about 17 percent of employees currently engage in Web conferencing in public places.
Here at Onstream Media, an online meetings provider, we strongly caution our customers against transmitting sensitive information over public Wi-Fi connections. We understand, however, that public Wi-Fi connections are sometimes a necessity—such as when you are on the road, at a conference or working from home. Nevertheless, customers are strongly advised to use public Wi-Fi sparingly and to stick to trusted networks when doing so. While Onstream Meetings protects end-user information using private encryption services, which renders data unusable to hackers, it still makes sense to err on the side of caution and mitigate the likelihood of someone stealing sensitive data.
You can learn more about how Onstream Meetings protects end-user information during Web conferences by clicking here.
