The Internet has become an integral part of our modern lifestyle: from communication by emails and social networks to shopping, learning, traveling, and much more. Undoubtedly it has positively influenced every aspect of human life. But we have also become vulnerable and dependent on the Internet. The COVID-19 pandemic is probably the first time a biological virus has a significant impact on information security. Cyber hackers can find and exploit vulnerabilities in communications and security systems of banks, hospitals, state and private institutions or companies.
The forced introduction of work-from-home technologies, more extensive use of online services and heightened activity on customer-facing networks all present fresh openings that cybercriminals have been quick to exploit.
As you can see, the pandemic has a significant impact on cybersecurity. The stress of the coronavirus leaves many people vulnerable to social engineering — the powerful tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information. We will consider several types of cyber-interference in our lives, so you can study the COVID-19 derived threat landscape, and provide some solutions to protect yourself, your business, or remote workers.
User Credential Theft
A direct impact of the virus is a shift to remote working that opens up threats related to an expanded network access and giving a wide range of options for criminals. For most employees, this requires a computer, Wi-Fi connection, and a platform to connect to the office. And the mass use of remote login credentials to organizational resources that far exceed the norm is a great opportunity for hackers.
As a result, people that have never worked remotely before starting to use risky ways to connect. This meaning that a hacker could easily conceal a malicious login without being detected by a company’s security team. So you have to test and scale response tools and VPN, and secure work-from-home systems.
Targeted Email Attacks
While the virus is progressing and completely altering our socioeconomic systems, attackers activate their efforts to exploit digital vulnerabilities and people’s fears. There are some multiple stories about COVID-19-related information that used to disguise malware-laced messages. This cyber virus is now being distributed by attackers around the world.
If you aren’t aware of the email threats your business is likely facing, then now is the time to get a piece of information. Work-from-home employees would often do so from their gadgets, which are less secure than the organizational ones, making them more vulnerable to malware attacks. Unlike the logic of spam or viruses which cast a wide net, email attacks focus on compromising the security of some company to steal money, information, or complete systems destruction.
To protect against this widespread threat during the coronavirus pandemic, you need to enhance email security. Defending against these advanced threats requires superior email security. Because hackers use a wide variety of options to gain unauthorized access and search for any point of vulnerability, preventing email attacks requires an integrated approach to security.
How to care about your cybersecurity in the conditions of COVID-19?
In this critical time, there are several steps you and your organization can take to help reduce COVID-19 cybersecurity risks.
Have access to a VPN
The VPN (a virtual private network) is an indispensable tool for remote work. This tool used to be exclusively only for day-offs, vacations, and sick leave employee access, but now it supports an all workforce working from home.
The VPN creates a secure connection from one network to another over the Internet. Besides, there are a lot of extensive reviews in case you’d like to get the best U.S. VPN services. If you or some of the employees don’t have access to the VPN, we recommend connecting this tool to protect your organization from cyberattacks.
Strengthen email filters
To protect your company, every employee should follow cybersecurity practices and stay vigilant while checking email. Companies should set up or strengthen email filters to guard against phishing attacks. A comprehensive email solution protects against all threats, including fishing and spam.
If you want to keep a network safe, you should know about some common coronavirus spam email campaigns. For example, be careful with emails that probably came from health authorities. Trust only official sources for information on the COVID-19. If the email is suspicious, employees should be advised to mark it as such.
To help deal with an existing or potential online threat, consider engaging a trusted cybersecurity company to provide managed security services. A team of professionals can help augment managed detection and response in order to identify threats in the early stages and reduce the consequences.
Author bio:
Dean Chester, security evangelist, and researcher at VPN-Review.com.