How COVID-19 Changed The Cyber Security Worldwide? Cyberroot Risk Advisory
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed the way human think and live. COVID-19 has forced people to embrace new practices such as social distancing and remote working. While the countries and nations are focused on their people health and economic challenges risen by COVID19, cyber criminals are capitalizing this crisis as an once-ina-lifetime opportunity. COVID-19 has created a huge challenge for cyber security worldwide. Cybersecurity experts saw 63 percent increase in phishing, malware and ransomware attacks related to the pandemic. In just a single month, the world became far more vulnerable than ever.
Because of COVID-19 companies shifted rapidly to remote working which increased the risk of more infected computer and other digital devices. Attackers are not only targeting businesses, they are also targeting end users who download COVID-19 related applications and visit sites. They trick them into downloading ransomware files cloaked as legitimate applications. Cybercriminals are also using vulnerabilities present in popular software’s and websites to host malicious codes. Attackers trap people to these sites and then drop malware on their digital devices.
Since COVID-19 starting, new cyberattack techniques jumped to 35% of all attacks. Even the antivirus software’s are not compatible to detect these new attacking techniques alone. In this critical time organizations must aggressively confront the risks and also train their employees to be more watchful when opening any link, emails or documents related to the subject COVID-19.
Steps that organizations should take to ensure they maintain security while employees are working from home.
1. KNOW CYBERSECURITY The first step in protecting sensitive information is to make sure all employees know that how important and serious data protection is, and the best way to do that is by establishing a cybersecurity policy.
2. SECURED NETWORK
Using an unsecured network can be risky and cause you data security breach. The easiest solution is to require all employees to use a fully patched and secured network.
3. PASSWORD IS IMPORTANT Educating remote workers about password protection. Train employees how to keep passwords strong and why it’s so important to not use the same one over and over again.
4. REGULAR BACKUP YOUR DATA
Another way to avoid risk and secure data is to have the regular backup of the same. In case you lost your device or data, you can easily access the backup.
COVID-19 is expected to be temporary. But until life comes back to normal, it’s very important for everyone to be more careful and alert not only with work data but also with personal hygiene and social distancing. Both cyber security and COVID-19 are very big challenges for everyone and only way to fight with these issues is to follow the right guidelines.