Posted on June 16, 2023

Navigating Risk in Virtual Events: Cybersecurity Strategies for Effective Management.

It’s the 21st century. Technology plays a vital role today. The online space at this time now hosts Jobs, interviews, conferences, concerts, retreats, game shows, and even religious events.

Every activity known to happen physically is shifting to the internet, particularly after the emergence of the covid 19′ pandemic. It’s the beginning of a new dawn, the virtual world era.

Virtual events have proven to be cost-effective and can reach more audiences in the case of a global event. With a connected device, anyone worldwide can link up with events without stepping outside their closets—quite an impressive development.

However, innovations come with challenges, and the online space is the same. With internet technology came the rise of cyber-attacks. More than in any other period, all types of hackers and cyber-criminals are raising their game to capitalize on these virtual activities to perpetuate cybercrimes. 

These criminals steal the sensitive data of individuals and organizations to carry out phishing attacks. To a greater extent, effective cybersecurity strategies pose an effective tool to tackle the risk of cyber crimes and ensure the safety of virtual events. 

It’s also important to consider what risk management is, the benefits of risk management platforms like Clumio, and how they can help mitigate potential cyber risks. Shall we?

What to know about cybersecurity risk management

Dave Hatter, a cybersecurity consultant at Intrust IT with over 30 years of industry experience, says managing risk in an increasingly virtual world cannot be any easier. 

As more organizations and personal information go digital, the risks associated with the process can be overwhelming, even for the most talented risk management teams. 

Regarding risk management issues in an organization, it’s not the job of the security team alone. Everyone in the organization is involved. The risk management process in a company is ongoing. 

It involves identifying, evaluating, and analyzing an organization’s cyber security threats, which all the arms of an organization must do. Today’s risk landscape calls for a unified, disciplined, coordinated, and consistent management solution. Continuous monitoring must become a norm to escape any types of risks and cybersecurity threats.

 Here are some critical elements of risk management every organization should pay attention to:

• As with new policies and regulations, identifying emerging risks significantly impacts business.

• Developing robust strategies and tools to assess risks

• Identifying internal weaknesses, such as the unavailability of two-factor authentication

• Mitigating organizational IT risks via training programs or internal controls

• Testing of the overall security structure

Risk management platforms—what they are

Cybersecurity risk management is comprehensive. It comprises several components that interact with one another. It includes risk assessments and analysis to make the risk management process effective. 

For a data-driven approach, a risk management platform is essential. It can help identify potential risks and help keep track of the identified risks in a risk register, as well as put in place measures such as controls and barriers to mitigate such risks.

When seeking a risk management platform, ensuring the user experience is intuitive to drive user adoption is vital. If the platform is easy to navigate, it attracts more users.

As part of the other benefits of a risk management platform, they can help:

• Store data in a central repository, as they monitor third-party relationships to identify risk areas, security breaches, and compliance issues. 

• Report data and monitor KPIs. The analysis tools provided by risk management software predict potential risks and ensure a quick response to bottlenecks, poor performance, and operations issues.

• Audit and report compliance issues. They help prevent the financial and reputational risks that come with poor compliance. With identity management, they help investigate and detect individual or organizational fraud, reducing potential risks for your business. Additionally, integrating free project management software can enhance compliance tracking and streamline audit processes, ensuring that projects adhere to regulatory requirements.

• Ensure access control, which restricts and allows access to prevent security risks with a configurable access control interface.

Cyber-security strategies for effective management of virtual events

It is usual for the organizers of virtual events to hold the sensitive data of the attendees and other stakeholders. Hence, securing the data must be the first. This sensitive information should be the top priority of any event planner. 

Although, you can base the size of the event and its security level on your demand. However, it’s essential to know things like encryptions, custom registration links, password protections, situations to accept or deny participants’ access, and many more. Additionally, incorporating virtual desktop monitoring into your security measures is crucial. These strategies come in handy as an event organizer, business leader, or attendee. 

1. Ensure end-to-end encryption for virtual meetings.

“Why is cyber security important?” It is a critical question to consider when discussing the significance of end-to-end encryption for your virtual event.

End-to-end encryption is crucial as it provides adequate security for your virtual event. It’s almost impossible to control the networks your attendees will use to connect to the meeting.  

Interestingly, most of them will connect with their personal devices, which may be vulnerable to attacks. Chances are their login credentials are weak and can be quickly tempered by hackers. 

You’d need end-to-end encryption when people in your virtual event connect to the internet through a public or unsecured private network. Choose a virtual platform that secures communications via end-to-end encryption to prevent security breaches from these networks.

End-to-end encryption ensures data is encrypted before it is sent over the network and only decrypted when it gets to the endpoint of the intended recipients. 

So, when hackers gain access to your network to intercept data, you can be sure it will be unreadable and useless to them. 

2. Set up Two-Factor Authentication

This is another way to secure your virtual event. Always enable two-factor authentication. It reinforces the security of your virtual event. It’s pretty simple—locate the settings of whatever platform you’re hosting your event, whether Zoom or WhatsApp and turn on two-factor verification. 

With two-factor authentication in place, virtual event attendees, in addition to their passwords, would have to verify logins with a secondary authentication measure.

As a matter of fact, avoid saving your passwords on your browsers. If your Google account gets hacked, your data falls right into the hands of hackers. Pro tip: Make sure you’re implementing basic protocols like JSON Web Token for extra authentication and authorization of your website.

3. Utilize cloud-based services 

The challenge with data protection is that you cannot predict where the attack will come from the next minute. So, in the case of a virtual event, attendees’ devices, the host’s account, the software program, and the protocol are potential entry points for hackers. 

Typically, people join a virtual event with different devices. It could be a tablet, smartphone, or even a desktop. Each of these devices has its unique operating systems and vulnerabilities.

Here is the catch: a reliable cloud-based event management platform securely hosts events without security compromises. With a cloud-based event management platform, no data will be stored on your attendees’ devices.

As a host, you’d also be able to effectively manage your events by keeping track of all data like recorded video, audio, and instant messages from a source.

 Look out for a reputable cloud management system with grand security measures. You’d also want to do some research and read reviews. A virtual cybersecurity expert can also help identify the cloud solutions and technology that would suit your virtual event, as well as run a cloud security assessment to ensure that any data you collected from attendees before, during, or after the event remains uncompromised. 

4. Communicate cybersecurity best practices to attendees 

Studies show that 90% of data breaches are caused by human errors. Refrain from assuming your attendees know about cybersecurity practices. Communicate with them so they can take precautions.

You can send reminder emails containing these practices to the participants before the event. You should inform them to use a private Wi-Fi network. Private connections, unlike public ones, are safer. 

Anything you do on public networks is not secure because anybody can access it. It may be an avenue for hackers to strike. Moreso, encourage participants to stay up-to-date with antivirus software and firewalls. Antivirus software prevents, detects, and removes software and other malicious viruses. 

On the other hand, firewalls can protect your network by denying access to unauthorized devices. Participants should ensure they refute unsolicited chat requests from individuals with suspicious profiles during the event.

5. Comply with global cybersecurity regulations.

The most critical strategy to deploy for your virtual event. You’d want to ensure that whatever software you use complies with the demands of your industry and your internal policies. 

Stay in vogue with international privacy laws, like the California consumer privacy act(CCPA). They are set up to protect user privacy across all physical and digital spectrums. 

A secure virtual event is better for everyone

Whatever the size of your event, it’s essential to include cyber safety in the planning process. You should take all the time to put the strategies to optimal use. If you have a virtual event that’s secure and safe, everyone can enjoy it without any security breaches. 

The author Ale Oluwatobi Emmanuel is a freelance SEO content writer for SaaS and web 3 brands. With several published by-lines on notable tech websites, he’s passionate about tech, and the innovations that come with it. In his leisure, he listens to music and plays classical piano.