Every workplace has made changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. With employees struggling to balance changing business dynamics, many companies are pushing cybersecurity concerns down on the list of priorities. Deprioritizing cybersecurity is a mistake. The migration to work from home environments introduces new variables that increase exposure to malware attacks, phishing, and other cybercrime. In fact, the number of malware and ransomware attacks spiked by 25 percent between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020, as a wave of attacks hit a range of victims.
Some hackers are even using people’s concern about COVID-19 to their advantage, by creating false links and to collect personal information…claiming they will give people new information about a COVID-19 vaccine or government assistance.
These increases in cybercrime are forcing IT professionals to reevaluate current priorities for cybersecurity. In fact, more than 70 percent of in-house cybersecurity managers plan to request a significant budget increase during the next year. Increased threat exposure (wireless networks, family members, web site browsing etc.) in the new work-from-home reality is now focusing security initiatives on individual employees.
Investing in employee education and annual training programs is one of the most effective measures a company can take. These initiatives will help keep individual employees, client data and the company in a much safer position.
For more information on employee education and cybersecurity tools, visit https://securityvitals.com. Click here to read more about Why IT Security Will be a Prime Concern for Businesses in the Next Decade.