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Views: Three Crises

Three Crises

This week, we saw the COVID crisis through a new prism as 6 million people in America signed up for unemployment benefits, giving a hint of the economic disruption that is already underway.

By our count, there are no fewer than three crises occurring simultaneously.

There’s the public health crisis front and center, which will deepen over the next days and weeks as critical cases swamp hospital capacity in dozens of cities across the nation.

There’s a short-term policy crisis of how our leaders in Washington and state capitols support our health care workers and begin to respond to the economic disruption out in the world. This is the world of short-term stimulus, grants, loans and rebates.

And then there’s a third — the long-term effort to dig our economy out of the looming recession (or worse).  Both President Trump and Speaker Pelosi have talked about a Phase IV bill that invests in infrastructure to try to create jobs and opportunities once the health crisis recedes. Expect a focus on this third area going forward.

Organizations looking to engage in public discourse in these troubled times should be thinking about these areas. Policymakers are looking for solutions, and those who put mission first will find that there are significant opportunities for engagement.

Cyber Corner

Courtesy of Josh Zecher

Free Remote Working Tools

A cadre of NGOs – including Vrge client The Cyber Readiness Institute – this week launched the Work from Home. Secure Your Business campaign. The focus:  actions employers and employees can take to greatly reduce cyber risk. Among the recommendations: updating personal and company systems and applications, two-factor authentication for access to company services and the use of a protective DNS service, such as Quad9.

Bang, Zoom
The massive migration to remote work has been a boon for Zoom, the videoconferencing service. And it isn’t just for work, families and friends are using Zoom for virtual gatherings and all-important happy hours. But the media darling hit a bump in the road this week as it was revealed that some security flaws could leave users at risk. 

In a blog post, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wrote: “We did not design the product with the foresight that, in a matter of weeks, every person in the world would suddenly be working, studying, and socializing from home.”  The company is now focusing all engineering resources on privacy and security issues.

One strange thing in the age of WFH.  Sales of work shirts are up. So it seems to be all business on top; PJs on the bottoms.

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