Close that back door!

By Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

Having seen (and discussed over the past month) the terrible effects on our businesses from Covid and the terrifying effects of global warming on our planet that we see each evening on the news, we could be forgiven for thinking that these are the worst things that are going to happen to us. As Humans we tend to concentrate on the most recent shocks and our memory tries to protect us as much as possible from the old by pushing previous fears deep into the background and then builds walls around them.

But these previous and serious issues that many businesses had to grapple with pre-Covid are still there and we would argue have actually increased quietly behind the scenes. They now affect many more businesses than ever before. For businesses one of the most important of these prior to 2020 was and (sadly becoming easier) is Industrial Espionage. We were reminded of this when it was revealed in classic ‘Cold War’ style this week that a British Embassy worker was arrested in Germany and accused of spying for Russia.

Industrial Espionage draws up thoughts of James Bond types, breaking into factories and stealing the latest satellite codes, driven by a desire for global domination. So what has that got to do with us? Even we at the Head Office of the Lionesses of Africa would admit that within our, by now, massive 1.3 million membership, we do not have many members involved in industries that would attract the likes of James Bond’s espionage skills.

But guess what, Industrial Espionage has gone mainstream. Just like so much in Formula 1 Motor Racing is about technology of which mere mortals can only dream, so 10 years later this same technology appears a great deal cheaper and ready for the mass market,. The same is true of Industrial Espionage where previously this was the domain of governments and dodgy but well financed companies, so we now have developers selling snooping software (‘spyware’) and malware “off the shelf”. SaaS = Spyware-as-a-Sevice, who knew?

This was brought to the fore recently by the revelations that an Israeli company, NSO, had sold such spyware called ‘Pegasus' across the globe that opens up your competitors’ phone and also turn this into a mini spy camera controlled miles away. All of this without any emails with unsubtle “Please download this innocent looking attachment”, that we have all been warned about and look out for! Scary how easy that was and also just how many companies and governments used this! (see here)

Thankfully most of us will never (we assume) create the situations where someone would spend such large sums of money to spy on us. But not only is it getting cheaper and more commonplace, but there are also many shades of industrial espionage. While we have our eyes on our battles against Covid and Global Warming, it is easy to forget to close the back door, a door through which so many of our day-to-day secrets leak…

So where to look and how to protect? Where are the ‘Controllables’ that we can ‘Control’ (as per our last article here)?

One of the large issues we have had to contend with over the past 24 months has been a drive for our employees to work from home. With Government driven lockdowns, this has been unavoidable. As the world opens up, many businesses are becoming far more relaxed about their employees continuing to work from home, but is this wise? Just how safe is this for your business?

Having worked so hard to ensure security of systems within the office, suddenly there are your employees working from home on their home internet with either no password to their internet or ‘12345678’ as one! This might sound innocent, but if you are holding credit card data, bank account access, customer lists, even in many cases access to suppliers systems (which is becoming far more common), all of these can be stolen/opened far easier from a home system than an office one where there are extra security failsafes built in. Remember a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

Take a look at our South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey, undertaken by Lionesses of Africa in partnership with New York University and sponsored by Absa here:

Source: South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey, 2021 — (Download Report)

Sadly, but no surprise, ‘Crime’ is number 3 on this list. Security guards and electric fences keep your office safe, but not all of your employees would be living in the same ‘safe’ environment. How can we create a virtual high wall and electric fence around them before theft of a company laptop compromises the entire business?

Corruption is 2nd. We assume corruption relates to the Government and such well documented issues around the terrible fraud that stole so many people’s life savings at VBS Bank, and of course the Gupta’s and their ‘State Capture’ (see here) and other such cases within South Africa. But it also includes bribes to company employees to open up the back door that can be used by competitors. 

What is the solution?

The issue behind all of this is that, at the end of the day, there is only so much you can do. You still need to trust your employees as trust is essential for building a strong team and company. But there are basic security blocks you can put in to both allow you to sleep better at night and also to not put all the pressure on your employees.

The starting point is to be aware that these issues are real and still with us. They have not miraculously disappeared just because there is a new ‘bogey man’ in the form of Covid in town. Being aware is the beginning of building those high walls and electric fences.

Second is to be aware of your sensitive information, what this is and just how sensitive it is. Customer’s credit card details, names and addresses are, of course, at the top of the list. Employees names, addresses, salaries and cost to company are also highly sensitive. Any ingredients to your ‘secret sauce’ are likely to be gold dust in the hands of a competitor. So ask yourself as Mckinsey suggest (here): “Which information assets are most critical, and what is the “value at stake” in the event of a breach? What promises—implicit or explicit—have we made to our customers and partners to protect their information?”

Third on your ‘to-do’ list, is to ensure that only employees who need to have that information, have that information. We would be very surprised if employees outside of HR and the essential few in Finance who prepare and sign the cheque have access to salary details. But we would suggest that this can be narrowed down to a few, and that is certainly not all within HR. Likewise Finance who have to be involved in all aspects of the company’s business, but does all really mean all members of the finance department need all of the information? We would suggest not. Access to suppliers systems? Again, those in Operations, but not all within Ops.

There are many ways in which you can put in firewalls around certain roles. If you are working from the cloud (which is likely if you have employees working from home), the various files within this and on your servers can be password protected. Indeed, often with a second security such as a pass number then sms’d. Many of these issues were not first and foremost on your mind as Covid hit, but now that company information is out there on private laptops, the pandora’s box is open, somehow you need to rein it in.

Your anti-virus, anti-malware software must be up to date, likewise on your employees laptops. It is a small price to pay to show your employees that you care by buying a group licence.

Lastly look into Virtual VPN networks. These are not just so that you can watch Netflix in the UK because they have better shows than Netflix Kenya, but are actually a serious defence against competitors gaining access to your systems. As Norton (one of the leaders in such security) say (here): “Surfing the web or transacting on an unsecured Wi-Fi network means you could be exposing your private information and browsing habits. That’s why a virtual private network, better known as a VPN, should be a must for anyone concerned about their online security and privacy. 

Think about all the times you’ve been on the go, reading emails while in line at the coffee shop, or checking your bank account while waiting at the doctor’s office. Unless you were logged into a private Wi-Fi network that requires a password, any data transmitted during your online session could be vulnerable to eavesdropping by strangers using the same network.”

With all of this to consider, please don’t forget to keep your wits about you. If something sounds just too good to be true, it usually is! Never forget about the old fashioned Con Artist! They are still alive and well - as we also saw this week as Mark Acklom (“considered to be one of the most notorious conmen in the UK”, see here) was given early release from a UK Prison. “During a criminal career spanning 30 years he not only defrauded his family but also complete strangers [many of whom were highly intelligent but trusting women], who were unlucky enough to come across him and were conned out of their life savings [and businesses]. You can imagine just how innocent and believable he was at his parole hearing - did we mention he was a Con Artist? 

Stay alert to these, but in the meantime, control the controllables and the easiest of these, is to Close That Back Door!

Stay safe.