With each passing day, it is becoming more apparent that we will be living with the terrifying effects of COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. This virus has changed the world as we knew it, impacting every aspect of our lives, including the way that we work. Vast numbers of businesses have asked their employees to vacate the secure confines of their corporate IT environments and instead make home their workplace. The dangers of transitioning to an often less secure work setting is compounded by our need for information and willingness to support charitable causes, which has increased our susceptibility to opening emails we would normally avoid. This confluence of events has created a perfect storm for cybercriminals to take advantage of, with myriad misfortunes hiding behind the next wrong click.
Cyber criminals could provide a modicum of comfort if they would abandon their nefarious activities until normalcy returned. Unfortunately, the exact opposite scenario has unfolded, and cyber-attacks have spiked during the crisis, with attackers leveraging the chaos with lethal precision. From the moment the outbreak began, criminals have used COVID-19 emails as a spearhead for their spear phishing campaigns. Whether it is surreptitiously sending infected files purporting to be from the World Health Organization or rerouting clicks to spurious charity websites, the world’s deadly pandemic is a cyber-criminal’s windfall.
To help make our stressful lives less anxious, there are some strategies we can utilize to help avoid the pitfalls associated with cyber-attacks:
While the hope is that things will return to normal in the very near future, we need to remain vigilant until they do. By maintaining a focus on cybersecurity, whether we are working from our office or from home, we can greatly increase the chances of staying safe and secure.