3 Ways BenQ InstaShow® Keeps Data Secure

Companies and organizations have been returning to offices over the last few months after a long period of mostly remote work. And with that return have also re-surfaced traditional meetings and the sharing of information onsite. While these meetings tend to be more productive and engaging than Zoom calls, they also require a different approach to security.

Wireless presentation systems with strong encryption and solid security protocols in place provide a multi-faceted approach to improving the quality of meetings. With wireless technology, sharing and presenting content is quicker and neater, without cable clutter in tow. And thanks to advanced security, platforms such as BenQ’s InstaShow^® offer independence from snooping-prone Wi-Fi and malware hidden in downloaded apps, so privileged information remains in the right hands.

InstaShow^® works quickly and efficiently and doesn’t encumber your IT department with complex installation or a long adjustment and learning period. Once setup, InstaShow^® allows you to hold meetings and discuss even the most sensitive information, from new products and patents to financial details, without fear of being spied on and having your confidentiality compromised. To further illustrate this, we’ll discuss three leading security concerns with regards to wireless technology and explain how InstaShow^® addresses each one. 

Recent news revealed that a top-selling wireless presentation system suffered from a serious security flaw that made it vulnerable to intrusion. The system in question was the Barco ClickShare, and the flaw allowed unauthorized parties to use certain devices to “eavesdrop” on wireless transmissions and effectively join confidential meetings without the knowledge of legitimate users. So, as you can see, there is risk with wireless data transmission within a company or organization. That also includes your Wi-Fi, which with enough dedication hackers may be able to access through various phishing means.

The Barco ClickShare issue generated considerable buzz and attention because the system is popular and deployed at businesses and organizations worldwide. The potential for data leaks once a system like that is compromised is massive, with stolen data likely to have a significant impact on affected parties. 

Most screen mirroring and wireless presentation solutions depend on software and apps to work with target devices, which ironically makes them easy targets for malware. The hostile code can be hidden inside software needed to use the wireless presentation system, allowing malware to piggyback on apps. If you need to download or install software to make a wireless presentation system work, you have a potential vulnerability on your hands.

BenQ’s InstaShow^® systems arrive pre-installed and ready to go out of the box. There’s no software needed, no app to download, and thus no soft spot for hackers to exploit. InstaShow^® is a closed system, with the receiver and transmitters delivering encrypted wireless HDMI through a local Wi-Fi connection set up by the InstaShow^® hardware. There is absolutely no need to install anything on paired source devices, closing the door on the malware risk, not to mention saving you a lot of hassle. 

If you want to use your company’s routers for wireless presentation, then you may run into problems with port forwarding, NAT, firewalls, and other settings. It may be the case that you’ll need to loosen up router security to enable wireless presentation, but at the cost of increased exposure to snooping. Additionally, at a busy company or organization Wi-Fi bandwidth tends to be in great demand as it is, with wireless presentations just adding to the burden placed on connectivity resources. 

When you purchase an InstaShow^® system, you get a dedicated wireless connection. The base device effectively acts as an independent router to generate a closed-loop, peer to peer Wi-Fi connection that’s independent and completely isolated from your regular Wi-Fi. You get a big win here. There’s no need to spend time and effort on reconfiguring your wider network, and there’s no risk of accidentally exposing your network to intrusion.

InstaShow^® works as a closed system and is therefore invisible to hackers on the hunt for your information. They would have to be in the room to try and break the InstaShow^® signal, which even then would be difficult thanks to military-grade encryption. 

We mentioned this risk several times by now, because it’s the most obvious when you use wireless presentation systems with inadequate security to collaborate on confidential information. You’d be surprised how many companies and organizations use screen mirroring and wireless content delivery devices that were designed for home videos and Netflix to share their most sensitive data. Devices and systems like that have next to no encryption when it comes to skilled hackers, who can break into their wireless signals with surprising ease.

Conversely, InstaShow^® deploys encryption and security protocols used by the most secure routers and popular among military and governmental users, plus corporate users with sensitive data handled on a daily basis. InstaShow^® has 128-bit AES encryption with enterprise-class WPA2 password authorization. It is virtually impossible to break into an InstaShow^® connection, even if the hackers were to be in the meeting room with you, as we stated above. 

The development and quality assurance process for InstaShow^® systems includes a black box testing process, where hackers actively try to intrude on the system’s wireless signal. Your average wireless presentation system does not go through such a radical testing measure. Good thing InstaShow^® isn’t average.

In addition to probing for vulnerabilities during development, BenQ also submits finished InstaShow^® products to the most rigorous cyber security tests in the industry. As such, InstaShow^® wireless presentation systems have CVSS 3.0 ratings as certified through tests by an ISO27001 and ISO17025 security lab.