Curated from Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion — Here’s what matters right now:
In today’s work-anywhere culture, people are more connected than ever. As work becomes more mobile and meetings more virtual, one form of cyber threat is quietly becoming more common: audio surveillance. Cybersecurity now extends far beyond protecting email accounts and stored files. In a hybrid working environment, where conversations happen over video conferencing , voice messages and shared screens, it’s not only your data that is at risk. The conversation itself can become a target. And here is the reality, according to Forbes, an overwhelming 95% of all cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error. This includes everything from sharing sensitive information without proper safeguards to joining calls over unsecured networks. It doesn’t always take a sophisticated hack to cause real damage. Sometimes, the risk comes from the tools we trust, the places we connect from or the assumptions we make about who’s listening. The illusion of safety Imagine opening your laptop at a coffee shop, putting on your headset and jumping into a client meeting. The connection seems strong, the audio is crystal clear and everything feels just right. But what if someone else is eavesdropping? In hybrid work, we often step outside the secure walls of the office and into environments we can’t control. That flexibility is a defining feature of modern productivity , but it also opens the doors to silent risks. An unsecured café Wi-Fi network, for instance, can make it remarkably easy for malicious actors to intercept audio streams or access shared content without detection. Every call, screen share and calendar invite can include sensitive materials, such as financial data, customer details, upcoming campaigns, or internal strategy. A breach of confidential information could result in serious consequences, including regulatory penalties, disciplinary action, financial and reputational liability, or even job loss. Recent research published in ScienceDirect highlights just how vulnerable virtual collaboration can be. A comprehensive review of video conferencing platforms revealed persistent security flaws, including weak encryption protocols and insufficient access controls, that leave meetings open to unauthorized access and potential surveillance. For hybrid professionals working from hotels, shared spaces or home networks, this means even the most routine call could be silently compromised if the right safeguards aren’t in place. More than just a call In hybrid work, our headsets, webcams and conferencing tools have become the new endpoints of trust. But here’s the uncomfortable truth; a headset isn’t just a device, it’s a data hub that carries voice, client queries, business sensitive information and, in many cases, biometric data like tone, speech patterns and emotional cues. The risks aren’t just external either. With the rise of AI, even internal tools are learning from the voices of everyone in a company. If not built securely, they could share that informati
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Original reporting: Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion