Cyber Risk Grows as COVID-19 Spreads

With the transition to remote work and school, security and IT teams face growing concerns over increasing network demand, supply-to-demand volatility, and overall stress in the workforce. Cybercriminals have taken these weaknesses and used to target the most vulnerable institutions. The first thing businesses can do is work to reduce panic, as cybercriminals are targeting those under the most stress and using the spread of information about COVID news as a way to get malware into organizations.

Businesses facing large increases in demand (utilities, government agencies, and online streaming platforms), as well as those who offer services which are part of the long digital commercial supply chain with potential weak links, are the most vulnerable, particularly those who saw an extremely rapid transition to remote work.

As businesses focus on survival in these challenging times, they drop security standards. Employers unintentionally move data around to personal devices and exposure of sensitive information goes undetected. Third-party suppliers and vendors face these same challenges, yet are weaker links as they are not always held to the same regulation, training, and supervision as regular employees.

The article discusses several actionable steps to prioritize. Preparation for business continuity, in the case of loss of staff or leadership, loss of data, or a serious attack, or the evacuation of a Security Operations Center, must be done as soon as possible. Revisiting and reteaching organization policies on handling sensitive data in the remote environment must also be done quickly. Learning from peer organizations and similar industry to gain knowledge of threat intelligence and best practices are also encouraged. Tightening security controls and the number of people who have access to sensitive data is also an imperative course of action.
Confonrtoning COVID-19 on multiple domains, including the cyber one, will be challenging but is necessary for businesses to survive these trying times while keeping their customers and employees safe.