Voice-enabled services are playing a greater part in our lives, especially now that many of us work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. But when we make those work calls or do Zoom conferences, can we depend on Alexa to be respectful of our privacy? As workers across the globe move to remote working because of the pandemic, Alexa is our home office stalwart, beside us through our stay-at-home vigil. And as the pandemic eases, we may find that we continue to work from home more often. Remote working is a model of choice for many; a poll on attitudes towards remote working found 99% of us want to work remotely at least part-time. In this article, I look at the “Alexa is bad” claim and ask this question: should organizations be concerned about protecting sensitive information under Alexa’s watchful eye? What are the concerns around security and privacy, and should we just switch Alexa off while working from home?
Potential IoT security concerns
But as you work, consider how your little plastic friend Alexa may be smarter than you think. Here are some examples of Alexa privacy and Alexa security issues that may make you reach for the off switch.
Alexa trouble: Case 1
Alexa trouble: Case 2
Vulnerabilities are common in just about everything digital. When those vulnerabilities can result in leaked company data, an organization needs to know about it.
Alexa trouble: Case 3
Many of the issues around Alexa privacy/security involve the use of voice capture and recordings used to allow Alexa to function optimally. The more data collected, the more accurate the functionality of Alexa should become. Certain keywords, such as the Alexa “wake up” command, are behind many of the vulnerabilities. Below, we look at ways you can mitigate many of the more intrusive privacy aspects of working with Alexa in your home.
10 actionable tips for remote workers to ensure company data is secure (even if Alexa is around)
A digital assistant, while useful on an individual level, makes things more complicated and potentially adds security issues in a work context. As we have seen from our example cases of Alexa going rogue, data can be exposed through the device. If this data is confidential business communications, this could have dire consequences. Business data comes under much scrutiny. Data protection laws, customer trust issues and protection of company Intellectual Property (IP) all require additional considerations and layers of protection. Here are 10 tips for using Alexa safely whilst working remotely: As we move into an era where home working (even post-COVID-19) may well become more normalized, we must ensure that our security measures reach out into the home of workers. In this current climate, where cybercriminals are actively looking for opportunities, we need to be extra-vigilant. This vigilance extends to our remote workers. By making our staff aware of the security and privacy implications of using Alexa, we can also help mitigate leaks, both accidental and malicious, via the device.
