Telecommuting and Screen Scraper

Telecommuting and Screen Scraper

Common issues such as visitor control, physical security, and network control are almost impossible to address with teleworkers. Strong VPN connections between the teleworker and the organization need to be established, and full device encryption should be the norm for protecting sensitive information.

If the user works in public places or a home office, the following should also be considered:

• Is the user trained to use securel connectivity software and methods such as a VPN?
• Does the user know which information is sensitive or valuable and why someone might wish to steal or modify it?
• Is the user's physical location appropriately secure for the type of work and type of information they are using?
• Who else has access to the area? While a child may seem trusted, the child's friends may not be.

A screen scraper is a program that can extract data from output on a display intended for a human. Screen scrapers are used in a legitimate fashion when older technologies are unable to interface with modern ones.

In a nefarious sense, this technology can also be used to capture images from a user's computer such as PIN pad sequences at a banking website when implemented by a virus or malware.