The bad guys don’t rest during a global pandemic. We are seeing more reports of cyberattacks on all kinds of organizations during the COVID-19 outbreak. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters that the WHO has seen an increase in cyberattacks. In addition, the WHO warned that criminals are impersonating WHO agents in an attempt to fool people into sharing sensitive data.
“There has been a big increase in targeting of the WHO and other cybersecurity incidents,” WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio told Reuters. “There are no hard numbers, but such compromise attempts against us and the use of (WHO) impersonations to target others have more than doubled.”
U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye reports an increase in cyberattacks more broadly since the coronavirus began to spread more widely outside China in January. As more people adopt remote working amid the spread of COVID-19, organizations everywhere are facing escalating levels of risk.
Homebound employees are more likely to use unsecured communications channels over their personal devices to conduct company work. Furthermore, they may overlook protocols designed to make remote working more secure, such as using a corporate VPN.
In addition, employees everywhere are vulnerable because they are under more stress. The bad guys know this, and they are going to try to capitalize on that stress by trying to trick them into sharing sensitive details, such as through emails that seem to come from “official” sources but are anything but that.
Your organization should take the following steps now:
In addition, now is the time to review with your CEO and your cybersecurity partner your game plan for protecting your company. Be prepared to modify it as your workforce relies on more remote collaboration tools. This is an issue that requires the attention and backing of your CEO.
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