We’ve all done it, and we’ve all had it done to us at some point. A sneaky peek at someone else’s computer monitor. And with the rise in demand for flexible working, it’s a problem only getting worse for employers wary of the private information they have in use and potentially exposed by employees during work hours. And while it’s an innocent glance for many, “visual hacking” as it’s been named can be a cause of a costly data breach.
A Visual Hacking Study
The Ponemon Institute conducted an experiment in 2015 whereby the concept of visual hacking and its effectiveness was tested.
In 88 of the cases, the undercover white hacker was able to view 5 pieces of sensitive information in just 15 minutes or less. This information included financials, employee and customer information and what’s more the hacker was only stopped in one third of cases. In 70% of cases they weren’t even noticed!
A Solution for The Future?
Now we don’t have an affiliation to sell HP computers, but this new development in tech is pretty nifty all the same! And definitely worth reporting.
HP has developed a new computer screen that allows people to control their privacy at the touch of a button when in public places. By simply holding down 2 buttons their screen darkens, adjusting the backlight of the computer and decreasing the viewing angles of the display to 35 degrees. It seems this allows the user to keep using their computer, whilst any onlookers see nothing but a black screen. Clever huh?!
The downfalls of the feature are that viewing quality may suffer as does image quality, but for the handling of sensitive information in public, this new darkening screen may be a compliance god send for data sensitive companies.
What We Think
We know from data that employees want more flexibility in their worklife, and we also know from data that hacking and data breaches are on the increase. This might just provide a solution of sorts to both for employers.
Castle Hill House