March 13, 2020March 19, 2020PurepointInternationalLeave a comment

As C-level leaders, is your team prepared to work remotely SECURELY?

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted communities, events, travel, and the economy. It’s also impacting data and cybersecurity in your business! It’s one thing for an employee to work from home two days a week. It’s another thing for ALL employees to work from home for an extended period of time. The question you have to answer as a C-level leader is whether your company can withstand remote working indefinitely AND still maintain the confidentiality, integrity, privacy and availability of data?

Here are the top three considerations for C-level leaders to NOT let the Coronavirus impact data and cybersecurity in their businesses.

1. The Importance of a Business Continuity Plan:

Do you have a full Business Continuity Plan in place today? Perhaps, you have a Disaster Recovery Plan for your information systems? When was the last time that Plan was reviewed and updated? Like with cybersecurity, C-level leaders have a tendency to wait to implement these Plans until there is a pressing matter that requires them to do so. For example, a cybersecurity incident, a regulation, a natural disaster, or even a pandemic!
Do you have an employee who works with a company critical system that is out and not able to perform their daily functions? If that occurred who is their back up and how will your company continue to operate?
Taking steps now to document what challenges are occurring, to update or create your Plan, is a way to prevent these same challenges in the future. The good news is you can start today.

2. Teleworking securely: Are we ALL actually able to do this SECURELY?

This is a difficult time to realize that you have a legacy finance system that makes it hard for an account payable employee to do their job while working remotely for an extended period of time.
How is your VPN – virtual private network? Is your team able to connect to your intranet securely? Are they able to access company or client data in the most secure way?
What if your employee needs to print confidential data? How do they do that remotely?
Are you all communicating quickly and efficiently with the communication tools in place? For small companies a secure text may work, but what about 50+ employee organizations? Having a secure messaging system that can communicate with employees efficiently, and consistently, with the ability to receive responses is critical.
Authentication: Is there multi-factor authentication for ALL systems? These are all things that need to be considered and enabled.
BYOD – Bring Your Own Device: Are your employees working on their personal devices with confidential company documents or client data?

3. Should we wait until this virus settles before we do more on cybersecurity?

There are “already” so many things to do, so why add cybersecurity or continue to execute cybersecurity best practices if it “makes our job harder?” I am sure no company will get a “pass” by a regulator or client, if they have a cyber breach and the company says “Yeah, but our employees had to work from home because of the coronavirus,” or “Did we really have to meet the deadline for the NY Department of Financial Services regulation or NY SHIELD Act during the pandemic?” This type of thinking will only keep you in fantasyland. The truth is…this is hard, the hackers don’t stop. For C-level leaders, this is what it means to run a business in 2020 and beyond.

The sad truth is there is not a “one size fits all” approach to cybersecurity when suddenly ALL employees are working from home during an unexpected event. Though there are similarities in securing systems and data a tailored approach is needed.

As a C-level leader, you don’t want to make your Compliance leader or HR leader’s job harder than what it needs to be. Putting the team first during this time means making their job easier, which means making your job easier. Neglecting cybersecurity or data protection during this time is a recipe for failure and, other than a sick employee, the last outcome you want as a result of this pandemic is a data breach.

Jessica Robinson, CEO of PurePoint International, and works as a Virtual/Outsourced CISO to middle market business in financial services and insurance. You can reach her at jessica@purepoint-international.com.

March 11, 2020March 19, 2020PurepointInternationalLeave a comment

Coronavirus: Taking Care of Your Team

Wanted to send a few updates in response to the first quarantine in the NYC metro area of the coronavirus and I wanted to be sure you were included. Learn more here: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-03-10/new-york-to-close-gathering-places-in-suburb-hit-by-coronavirus

Here are some immediate next step suggestions:

Take inventory of who on your staff, vendors, contractors (critical business partners) that can be impacted (even by a travel commute).
Business continuity: If your staff works remotely for the rest of the week can all business critical process be conducted remotely and securely? (Finance, accounts payable, accounts receivable, HR, security etc.
Security and Privacy: Is your team able to work remotely and STILL maintain the confidentiality, integrity, privacy and availability of systems data? (Not sure – give Jessica a call and she can take you though a quick check list. 929-800–1184).

Good information shared from one of our PurePoint Community Members:

Regarding any in person meetings (no matter how critical):

If someone is not feeling well, it is recommended they stay home and rest.
Carry tissues to cough or sneeze into, and have a little “trash bag” to put those used tissues into once finished.
Wash hands as soon as staff arrive anywhere after traveling. Avoid touching backs of chairs and handles of doors/shopping carts, etc directly – use a tissue or sanitizing wipe before grabbing.
Use hand sanitizer or a sanitizing wipe to clean hands after contact with “life”.
Bump elbows when greeting each other.
Avoid touching your face.
If you have a mask, it’s not about filtering out the germs – the sole purpose of a mask is keeping hands away from mouth and nose.

The other “tip” is get Zinc lozenges. Take one every 2-3 hours (follow package instructions). There has been a memo from a doctor going around where he says Zinc works like a charm for blocking cold and flu viruses, including the corona virus.

The last piece I’d like to share are thoughts known to help our bodies strengthen its immune system and create an optimized environment in the body so it can do its job:

Double up on your nutritional regimen (of course, consult a nutritional/wellness practitioner about double dosing protocol on each item you take).
Take an option to lessen alcohol intake for the month of March for extra support to your immune system.
Get an ideal night’s sleep. It’s that simple.
What we focus on expands. Health and mind-state are linked. Our job is to keep our mind free of fear. Fear suppresses our immune system. So the practice is this: if you catch team/staff dwelling on fear (disappointment/upset/breakdown), as leaders help shift the focus to what is working great, what is amazing, by focusing your attention on gratitude or what’s going well (I.e., thankful our team is healthy).
Eat a clean diet – at least for the month of March! (Then go back to your favorite processed foods.) Wherever we can, try cutting out processed foods. We are brilliant machines designed to override invasion to the body. Optimizing our well being makes a difference.

We are here to serve you. Please let me know if you have any questions.

February 9, 2020March 19, 2020PurepointInternationalLeave a comment

Cornavirus: Top Three Priorities Today

Situation Update: World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency for the novel (Wuhan) cornoavirus. There are currently over 37,000 cases with more than 800 people confirmed dead. There are confirmed cases in 25 countries outside of China.

What Has Changed: January 30^th it was confirmed the virus was transferred from person to person in the United States after someone returned from visiting China. There is currently no vaccine.

How serous is this as a US resident? There have been 12 cases of the Wuhan virus in the US as of Wednesday. The person to person spread of the virus occurs when people are in close contact for a number of days with someone who carries the virus.

What to keep in mind for your business: This outbreak will continue, so as you think about the workplace over the next several days here are some considerations for you or your leadership team.

Upcoming Travel: Some airlines have now suspended trips to China. Check your airlines for all cancellations and adjustments. For other travel updates, you can check the local airport for domestic travel updates and the State Department for international travel warnings. If you are traveling in the coming days possibly expect longer than usual lines and travel wait times. Also check local alerts from your local public health department.
Working from Home Policy: What is the determining factor to have people work from home in your business. What would determine that and for how long would someone need to stay home? What leader has the authority to makes these decisions? Think about how this may impact your business operations. When deciding what action to take for any crisis this should not be a unilateral approach. It does need to be consistent with existing labor laws and regulations. Communicate with your HR partner, security/operations partner and legal counsel if necessary.
Resource and Fact Sheet for the Virus: Here is an information resource for your business on the virus (symptoms, how individuals can protect themselves).

January 30, 2020March 19, 2020PurepointInternationalLeave a comment

Situation Update: Coronavirus and What You Need to Know

Situation Update: World Health Organization has declared a global public health emergency for the novel (WuHan) cornoavirus. There are currently over 8,100 cases with 170 people confirmed dead. There are more than 100 confirmed cases in 20 places outside of China.

What Has Changed Today: It has been confirmed the virus was transferred from person to person in the United States today after someone returned from visiting China. There is currently no vaccine.

How serous is this as a US resident? There have been 6 cases of outbreak in the US. The person to person spread of the virus occurs when people are in close contact for a number of days with someone who carries the virus.

What Are Our Responsibilities to Our Business/Organization? This outbreak will continue, so as you think about workplace over the next several days here are some considerations for you or your leadership team.

Upcoming Travel: Trips are being cancelled (some) from the US to China. For other travel updates you can check the local airport you are flying from for domestic travel, and the State Department especially for international travel. If you are traveling in the coming days possibly expect longer than usual lines and travel wait times.
Local Alerts: Check alerts from your local public health department.
Business Operations: Think about what you would do if a higher than normal percentage of your staff called in sick. How could this impact your business operations? What if an employee’s family member is impacted? If a person on your team gets sick from the Wuhan virus, who is the back up for their role, especially if it is supporting a critical function or business critical process for the organization. Think about how this will impact the continuity of your business and current delivery expectations for internal and external stakeholders. In more serious cases, think about what would happen if your entire building or town was quarantined.
Internal Company Communications: What is your communication plan internally? Some organizations in the wake of a major snowstorm, earthquake, or hurricane will make the decision to communicate via phone or text in deciding to close the office for the safety of the employees and clients. It just simply may be safer for employees not travel into work. Who is involved with this decision? What leader has the authority to makes these decisions?
Working from Home Policy: What is the determining factor to have people work from home. What would determine that and for how long would someone need to stay home?
Go Bag: If your office has Go Bags this could be a good time to update them. Though it may not directly relate to a virus outbreak, it is meant for several emergencies and can be beneficial, especially if your bag happens to have Personal Protective Equipment like facemasks.
Top Down Approach: When deciding what action to take for any Crisis Plan this should not be a unilateral approach. It does need to be consistent with existing labor laws and regulations. Partner with your HR partners, security/operations partner and legal counsel if necessary.
Resource and Fact Sheet for the Virus: Here is an information resource for the leadership team on the virus (symptoms, how individuals can protect themselves).
What We Can Expect: Global coordination by governments to stop the spread of the virus. As necessary, federal, state and local governments have and/or will update travel advisories and guidelines or recommendations for jurisdictions in the United States impacted by the Wuhan Virus.There will be stringent and required monitoring of this outbreak by government officials which could impact small and large businesses alike.

If you have additional questions, please let us know: If you have a Crisis Management Plan with us and have specific questions or updates that require implementation, please let us know. If you don’t have a Crisis Management Plan or Business Continuity Plan, but would like to discuss implementing one, please feel free to contact Jessica directly at Jessica@purepoint-international.