Here’s something I see all the time with businesses around Muncie and East Central Indiana: an employee sets up shop at The Caffeinery or Concannon’s, connects to the Wi-Fi, and gets to work. Maybe they’re in Anderson at a coworking spot, or grabbing a table at a coffee shop in Richmond between client visits. It feels productive. It feels normal.
And from a cybersecurity standpoint? It can be a nightmare.
Look — remote work isn’t going anywhere. It’s been baked into how businesses operate since COVID flipped everything upside down, and honestly, for a lot of East Central Indiana companies, it’s been a good thing. Your people are more flexible, you’re saving on overhead, and they’re getting stuff done from wherever works best.
But here’s what most business owners in Delaware County and beyond aren’t thinking about: that coffee shop is not your office. It doesn’t have your firewall. It doesn’t have your network controls. And the person two tables over might be more interested in your employee’s screen than their latte.
Let’s talk about what you actually need to worry about — and what to do about it.
Public Wi-Fi Is an Open Door for Hackers
Free Wi-Fi is everywhere — your favorite spot on McGalliard, the Muncie Mall area, Maring-Hunt Library, coworking spaces around Marion and Hartford City. And every single one of those networks is a potential security risk for your business.
Here’s the deal: public Wi-Fi almost never has real encryption. Even when it does, it’s nothing like the security controls on your company network. That means a cybercriminal sitting in the same location can intercept what your employee is sending — passwords, emails, client data — in seconds. Not hours. Seconds.
It gets worse. Attackers will set up fake Wi-Fi networks with names like “Free Coffee Shop WiFi” or something that looks like the real network. Your employee connects, thinks everything is fine, and now a hacker is sitting between them and the internet seeing everything. It’s called a man-in-the-middle attack, and it happens way more often than people think — including right here in Indiana.
The bottom line: If your employees are connecting to random public networks without protection, your company data is exposed. Period.
Every Remote Worker Needs a VPN — No Exceptions
If I could only give one piece of IT security advice to every business owner in East Central Indiana, it would be this: get your people on a VPN.
A Virtual Private Network creates an encrypted tunnel between your employee’s laptop and your company systems. Even if they’re on sketchy public Wi-Fi at some rest stop between New Castle and Richmond, everything they send and receive is locked down. A hacker sniffing that network sees nothing but gibberish.
Here’s what we do for our clients at Hoola: we set up the VPN to connect automatically whenever the device isn’t on the company network. Your employee doesn’t have to think about it, doesn’t have to remember to turn it on. It just works. That’s how remote work security in Muncie should be — invisible to your team, bulletproof for your data.
Shoulder Surfers Are Real — Yes, Even in Muncie
Not every threat is digital. Think about where your employees are sitting. At a coffee shop, someone at the next table can glance over and see exactly what’s on screen — client records, financial data, login credentials, you name it.
This is called visual hacking, and it’s stupidly simple. No fancy tools required. Just eyeballs.
The fix is cheap and easy: privacy screen filters. They’re thin films that go over the laptop screen so it’s only readable from directly in front. Anyone looking from an angle sees a black screen. We recommend them for every employee who works outside the office. They cost maybe $30-50 and they eliminate this risk entirely.
Don’t Leave Your Laptop Unattended. Ever.
This sounds like common sense, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about it happening. Someone leaves their laptop at a table to grab their order or run to the restroom. Two minutes, tops.
That’s all it takes.
A stolen device isn’t just a hardware loss — it’s every file, every saved password, every client record on that machine potentially in someone else’s hands — a business continuity nightmare. Your remote work policy needs to be crystal clear: your laptop goes where you go. Every time. No exceptions. Doesn’t matter if you’re at a packed spot in downtown Muncie or a quiet library in Anderson.
Watch What You Say Out Loud
Here’s one people forget about: phone calls. Your employee takes a client call at a coffee shop and starts discussing account details, contract numbers, or financial information. The background noise might make them feel like no one’s listening, but voices carry — especially when someone’s paying attention.
Simple rule: confidential conversations don’t happen in public spaces. If your team needs to take a sensitive call, they step outside, go to their car, or save it for when they’re somewhere private. This applies to in-person conversations with colleagues too.
Put It in Writing — Create a Real Remote Work Security Policy
Here’s where most small businesses in Muncie and East Central Indiana drop the ball. They assume their employees know the rules. They don’t.
You need a written remote work security policy. Not a ten-page legal document — a clear, practical set of rules that covers:
- VPN must be on whenever working outside the office
- No connecting to unknown or open Wi-Fi without VPN
- Privacy screens required on all remote devices
- Devices never left unattended in public
- No confidential phone calls or conversations in public spaces
- Report lost or stolen devices immediately
Write it down. Train your team on it. Review it every year because the threats keep evolving. When something goes wrong — and eventually something always does — you want to be able to point to a clear policy, not a shrug.
Remote Work Is Great — But Only If You Secure It
I’m not here to tell you to chain your employees to a desk. Working from different locations is a real advantage, especially for businesses across East Central Indiana where your team might be spread between Muncie, Anderson, Marion, and everywhere in between. The flexibility is valuable.
But flexibility without cybersecurity is just risk. And the threats targeting remote workers — on public Wi-Fi, in coffee shops, at coworking spaces — are real, they’re active, and they don’t care how small your business is or what town you’re in.
The good news? Every single thing I’ve talked about here is straightforward to implement. VPNs, privacy screens, device policies, a written security plan — none of this is complicated or expensive. It just needs to get done.
Let’s Lock This Down for Your Business
At Hoola Managed IT, we help businesses across Muncie, Delaware County, and all of East Central Indiana build IT security that actually works in the real world — not just on paper. If your team is working remotely and you’re not sure whether your data is protected, let’s talk. We’ll take an honest look at where you stand and tell you exactly what needs to happen.
Give us a call at (765) 233-2338 or visit hoolatech.com to get started. No pressure, no jargon — just straight answers from people who actually care about keeping your business safe.