Businesses planning to work remotely during the RNC could have serious connectivity issues if they don’t test their systems ahead of time, a cyber security expert told newsnet5.com.
Matt Neely, Director of Strategic Initiatives, for SecureState, said his company has been working with businesses in Northeast Ohio for several months. They’ve been running stress tests on networks to see if they can handle an entire office working remotely during the week of July 18.
“They can usually support having a percentage of their staff working remotely, 10 to 20 percent,” Neely said. “But when it comes to having the whole office working remotely, their infrastructure can’t support that.”
Local organizations like the Better Business Bureau tell newsnet5.com they’ve already tested their network, setting it up years ago to allow for employees to work at home during severe weather storms.
“But if you haven’t tried it yet I would highly recommend that you do it,” Sue McConnell, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, said. “You ask your staff to log in, you try to test the network to make sure it will do it.”
Neely said testing the network for the first time on Monday, July 18 could lead to a disaster for some businesses.
“Because you may need to purchase additional hardware, purchase additional software,’” he said, “You might have to do a lot of stuff that just at the last minute isn’t going to be easy to do, especially if there aren’t a lot of people in the office.”
Neely suggested that businesses do a test run sometime in the days left before the convention starts. He said they should also have an emergency contact plan in place to call employees who are usually in the office.
