Working in the nude and other perks of the Covid-19 lockdown

People working from home during the pandemic have discovered guilty pleasures they would like to keep, according to a study.

During research commissioned by cybersecurity company Kaspersky on the opportunities opened up by working from home in SA, 15% of respondents said they liked working without clothes.

Other novelties favoured by employees in SA include weekday lie-ins (42%), binge-watching Netflix (33%) and working outside in the garden or on a balcony (32%).

Commenting on the global study's overall findings, the company said: "Aside from working in the nude, which is still far from mainstream, the majority of respondents benefitted from simply working in comfortable clothes: 66% got used to this lifestyle and would like to make it the norm in the future."

"Saying goodbye to long commutes also made employees happier as they could wake up five minutes before work started, while many also enjoyed taking a nap during the day (42%)."

Continuing to discover the perks of the new normal, 32% of people enjoy working outside in the garden or on a balcony, and 33% even manage to binge-watch Netflix at work.

Other treats favoured by employees include more time for video games (15%), takeaway lunches (18%) and showering less often (10%).

The downside of remote work, however, is a lack of education around cybercrime.

Marina Titova, head of consumer product marketing at Kaspersky, urged people to take precautions to ensure their devices remain secure.

“When you work from home your privacy is put at greater risk, making it vital you remember to take care of your digital security.”

This is borne out by the KnowBe4 Africa Cybersecurity Research Report 2020, which surveyed people in SA, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritius and Botswana.

It found 24% of respondents indicated they were affected by cybercrime while working from home.

Across all eight countries, while there’s a growing awareness of the risks that come with cybercrime, people are still taking unnecessary risks, the report stated.

"Around 63.98% would give away their personal information if they believed there was a need for it, or if they understood what it was being used for, which is a measured response in light of government and organisation requests for data to verify identity.

"However, the concern lies in the 7% who would give away personal information if they got something back in return, like a discount, and the 6% who do it all the time.

"This is supported by the fact that only 46% could define ransomware, nearly 20% have forwarded a spam or hoax e-mail, 30% have clicked on a phishing e-mail, 33.41% have fallen for a con artist or a scam, and 52.7% have had a virus on their PC."

E-mail security is one of the biggest threats facing the average user, yet “most people don’t realise what a risky e-mail looks like or how their actions could result in their systems becoming infected”.

It its report, Kaspersky suggests these steps:

• Do not share personal information or permit access to your accounts with third parties unless it is completely necessary. This will minimise the chances of it being found on the internet.
• Apply webcam protection to prevent unauthorised access to your camera.
• Start using Privacy Checker to configure your social media profiles according to the level of privacy you prefer.
• Secure your Wi-Fi by setting a new password and updating the router’s firmware.

This article first appeared on TimesLIVE