CYBER SECURITY
Best of both worlds How can businesses maintain IT security in a hybrid working model?
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usinesses now have the green light to go back to work, but your organisation may not be returning to its old working practices. So, if a hybrid model is being adopted, what can you do to ensure that information stays secure? The introduction of more widespread homeworking has certainly piled on the pressure for businesses’ IT security. At the beginning of 2021, QMS International carried out a survey of
38 | December 2021 | IN SECURITY
businesses about their cyber security and 75.7% of the respondents reported that they now felt more open to attack. Another 10% reported that they had no confidence in fending one off. And businesses have a right to be worried. According to analysis of reports made to the UK’s Information Commissioners Office (ICO) by CybSafe, the number of ransomware incidents in the first half of 2021 doubled compared to the number reported in the first half of 2020.
Malicious emails have also been redirected to attack those working from home. Data supplied by Darktrace to The Guardian revealed that the proportion of attacks targeting home workers rose from 12% of malicious email traffic before the first lockdown in March 2020 to more than 60% six weeks later. With homeworking becoming more of a permanent fixture in business models, this trend is likely to continue. While hybrid working offers your
