By Adriana Linares
Shoulder surfing: it’s a thing. How do I know? Because I’m a pro. A hard-core perp. My mental breaks are taken by peeping over your shoulder to watch your movie, read your texts and emails, or review your client’s confidential legal documents with you — hey, I’m here to help! Well, truth is, I’m just looking around but people make it so easy. No one uses privacy screens (well, at least one of us does) and just about everyone over 40 has HUGE FONTS (thanks, presbyopia). This makes the act of shoulder surfing easier than ever.
Until recent years, this act of privacy invasion was employed primarily for stealing calling card numbers and pins at public phones or ATMs and the like. Today, the illicit practice has evolved into a social engineering technique used to obtain all sorts of personal, private and confidential information. It’s an attack that can be performed with no technical skills, no technology in hand and at close range in an intimate or a public place. In fact, the more crowded, the better! As a very mobile professional, I am regularly on airplanes, buses and trains; I work from
coffee shops, bars and hotel lobbies. I sit in crowded seminars, packed airplanes and wait in long lines with everyone else and their devices. I’m no longer amazed at how oblivious people are to the information they so readily display.
And while it would be nice to have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” when we expose our screens to nosy passers-by in public places, we don’t. But we all know the reality of having a mobile practice and living in a modern world — we move, we work. So what can you do to help enforce your duty to protect your clients’ information?
Aside from opting to work only from the confines of your home or office, an excellent and simple first line of defense against this type of data breach is a privacy screen. A privacy screen helps prevent those side-eyers from getting a side view. Similar to the way vertical blinds work, they use “black out” technology that darkens or discolors the screen from any side views, making the screen hard or impossible to read at an angle. To the person next to you, your device will look like it’s turned off or mirrored but to you, the screen is not distorted or otherwise impaired.
Side Benefits
Today, privacy screens are available for cellphones, tablets, laptops and even desktop monitors. They also have many “side” benefits (Get it? See what I did there?). They can double as incident protectors against falls or bumps. Many people suffer visually or get migraines because of screen glare and office lights; these filters can also reduce reflections on those light-sensitive eyes. If you’re a night owl, they can even reduce “blue light.”
Things to Consider When Shopping
Screens designed for mobile phones are going to be touch-compatible but be sure to look for that as a feature if you are shopping for your tablet or touch monitor.
You may see options for matte or glossy finishes or a filter that has both (on either side). As with regular monitors, glossy displays show colors and contrasts better but reflect more, while matte screens are better at preventing glare but may appear a bit more dull.
Does your monitor have a bevel around the edge or is it perfectly flat? Do you use a phone cover that wraps around the edges of the phone? Be sure to consider these features as you look for the perfect filter.
Does your device use facial recognition, or do you use the camera frequently? If yes, look for a screen built for your device so it will have a notch cut out for the camera. Will you have to remove the screen on occasion to share with others? Many will attach with small Velcro tabs making it easy to pull them off and re-attach them. Personally, I have four laptops that I might travel with (one Surface, one Surface Pro, a MacBook and a Chromebook) so I have one privacy screen that mostly fits all of them and I just prop it against the screen when I log in. Of course, you can choose to permanently attach the filter to your monitor. Cautionary tale: I was about to return a new Surface because the battery was draining overnight. Took me a while to figure out that when I left the privacy screen in the tablet and “closed” the lid, it couldn’t close firmly, leaving the device on all night.
The best way to start researching options is by a simple search, but be sure to include your exact device: “privacy screen for Surface Pro 4” / “privacy screen for iPhone 7 Plus.” Of course, don’t be afraid to buy, try and return. Take a few minutes to read the user reviews plus those great Q&As on Amazon. You’ll be glad you did because there’s a lot more to these things than meets the eye.
Adriana Linares is the Member Technology Officer for the San Diego County Bar Association.
This article was originally published in the July/August 2018 issue of San Diego Lawyer.