When it comes to remote working, the pandemic of 2020 was like throwing the entire world into the deep end of a very large pool, regardless of individuals’ previous swimming experience or whether they had a floatation device. For organizations that continued to operate during the shutdowns, this mass workfrom-home experiment has proven to be a remarkable success, according to new research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. The global survey of 1,080 business leaders explores the current and future state of the digital workplace. It shows that companies are moving quickly to expand their use of tools and capabilities that enable employees to communicate, collaborate, and carry out their work as needed, independent of physical place or proximity to other people. Organizations in industries as diverse as technology, manufacturing, financial services, and health care, among others, had to adapt as the pandemic shutdowns stretched from weeks into months. In the process, they learned that, in many cases, remote work and digital workplace capabilities can be as effective as the manner in which they operated before. A majority of respondents (61%) say the quality of remote work has been at least as good as that done in the physical workplace. Only 22% disagree. Two-fifths (44%) say their investments in digital workplace capabilities have increased productivity (only 11% say that productivity declined), and more than half say it has improved business agility (57%), business continuity (56%), and collaboration (52%). Looking ahead, 86% agree that the digital workplace must integrate and coexist with the physical workplace for the foreseeable future.

86% say the digital workplace must integrate and coexist with the physical workplace 78% expect the amount of remote work to increase in the future 39% have advanced digital workplace capabilities, 38% are evolving, and 23% are lagging

Source :Harvard Business Review

Parking garage mobile app is the latest data breah.

ParkMobile, which provides a digital parking-payment app for Keene, N.H., streets and lots, was the victim of a data breach that accessed users’ information, the company has announced.

In a March 26 security notification, the Atlanta-based firm said it had recently become aware of a “cybersecurity incident” related to a vulnerability in third-party software.

An investigation into the incident found that the data accessed includes users’ license plate numbers and, if provided, email addresses and phone numbers, ParkMobile said in a separate notice Tuesday. In a small percentage of cases, the company said, it includes users’ mailing addresses.

Data accessed in the security breach also includes encrypted passwords but not the encryption keys needed to read them, ParkMobile announced. Still, it encouraged users to consider changing their passwords for the app.

No credit card information or parking transaction history were accessed, the company said Tuesday.

ParkMobile spokesman  Jeff Perkins  did not immediately respond to a request from The Sentinel for more information Tuesday morning.

KrebsOnSecurity, a cybersecurity blog run by former Washington Post reporter  Brian Krebs , reported the breach Monday.

KrebsOnSecurity learned of the breach from a New York City threat-intelligence firm that monitors cybercrime, the blog reported. Account information for 21 million ParkMobile users that was accessed in the incident is being sold online, KrebsOnSecurity reported, citing information from a Russian-language web forum.

Keene began using ParkMobile in January 2014. The mobile app allows people to pay for parking on their phone, with users asked to identify where they parked and to provide their license plate and payment information.

Keene officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information, including an inquiry into whether the city had been informed of the ParkMobile breach.

This article has been updated with information from a security notification that ParkMobile released Tuesday.

(c)2021 The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.