Why might a global pandemic cause an uptick in cyberattacks? The question has more answers than you’d think. Worldwide disruptions are ideal conditions for cyberattackers to operate in, particularly when they cause repercussions across healthcare, economic, social, and political structures.
Entire communities have made the move to digital spaces to promote social distancing and protect the health of individuals, but without taking the proper cybersecurity measures, these spaces might as well be a house of cards. Increasing our reliance on connecting through the Internet means, inevitably, increasing our risk of exposure to malicious actors and attacks on online infrastructure.
In a time of great uncertainty, bolstering cybersecurity measures will be a crucial task to give our newfound digital community a foundation to stand on.
In The Crosshairs
Why might hackers target benign digital spaces for businesses, communities, and social groups? In one form or another, the prerogative of most bad-faith actors is to gain from some sort of social or structural upheaval—and in today’s world, the pandemic is winning half that battle.
Last week, we explored the social and security benefits of staying connected with your professional circles. Establishing a new infrastructure is important to maintain the stability of your organization, and maintaining its security is even more important, especially when digital communication is the new norm.
While cyberattacks that deprive people of access to their devices, data, or Internet connections have been relatively commonplace in the last few years, they’ll prove especially devastating in a remote-work scenario, even going as far as to threaten public systems and programs that continue to operate online during the pandemic.
Intrinsically, cybercrime flourishes in times of fear and uncertainty, as we’ve seen with attacks on a COVID-19 statistics site and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will also be important not to discount the effect of social engineering scams on online communities, most notably in the form of misinformation and fear-mongering.
Hackers understand that in prolonged crisis situations, people are under more stress than usual, and more likely to take risks or make mistakes they wouldn’t otherwise. In a recent worldwide cyberattack, malware was incorporated into a map of COVID-19 statistics pulled from a legitimate source. Viewers were prompted to download and run an application that compromised computers and stole saved passwords.
Do Your Part
Increased exposure to online activity may mean that users are at higher risk for cyberattacks, but with exceptional security measures, even the most devoted hacker will hesitate to target your organization.
Our Fully Remote Audit is equipped with a developed system that we’ve been utilizing successfully for over a decade. With a measurable uptick in cyberattacks due to COVID-19, your organization has the option to evaluate your security systems with our repertoire of supplemental approaches or even move up your scheduled audit.
Additionally, if you choose to partner with us now, we can beat the end-of-year crunch and lock in your desired audit dates for this calendar year. Whether working with us or another firm, we encourage your organization to remain proactive in this pandemic and ensure you meet your regulatory deadlines.
For more information, contact us.
