With millions of workers staying home to slow the spread of COVID-19, more people are now at risk of becoming a target for malicious hackers that can easily infiltrate unprotected emails or access your corporate network. Back at the office, employees are protected by software that scans links and downloads and ensure that viruses or scams don’t take advantage of them. Now that more than 60% of Americans are working from home, hacking attempts have become more frequent, jumping to more than six times their usual levels last month. It’s no surprise that cybersecurity is – and will continue to be – a big concern for businesses and their employees nationwide. As we adjust to the long term reality of remote work environments, here are four areas of security to keep in mind.
Home WiFi
For those under state stay-at-home orders, it’s vital that your home wifi set-up is connected and secure. And if you’re quarantining with family members or roommates, that set-up needs to be able to handle an onslaught of streaming, online gaming, emailing, and teleconferencing all at the same time. However, speed and bandwidth aren’t everything. Your home set-up also needs to be protected. Password protection and encryption are a must, but will only get you so far.
Learn the latest on cyber-risks during the pandemic.
Virtual Private Networks
Virtual private networks (also known as VPNs) are one of the most common ways to access protected corporate networks and ensure your privacy and security online. By creating a private network from a public internet connection, VPNs mask your IP address so that online activity stays untraceable. You might be exposing private information and personal online habits by browsing the web and logging into your favorite social media channels, but with a VPN you can stay protected.
Teleconferencing Software
Teleconferencing software such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become the de facto method of meeting with your co-workers and even friends, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk. Recently, ‘Zoombombing,’ where an uninvited attendee logs in and disrupts a meeting has spread across the country, potentially exposing the meeting to malware or inappropriate material. To prevent this, Zoom suggests using a randomized, per-meeting ID and enabling the Waiting Room feature to see who is attempting to join the meeting. Disabling the Join Before Host feature can also help lock out nefarious eavesdroppers.
COVID-19 has led to a nearly 700% increase in phishing emails that are designed to read as messages from the World Health Organization or Center for Disease Control.
Ransomware and Phishing Attacks
As more workers operate over email, ransomware and phishing attacks have evolved to become more complicated and more serious. In fact, COVID-19 has led to a nearly 700% increase in phishing emails that are designed to read as messages from the World Health Organization or Center for Disease Control. These organizations are aware of these scams and have issued alerts about the tactics scammers are using to steal sensitive information. In order to stay safe and aware, the CDC has offered several tips to avoid these attacks, including refraining from opening unsolicited emails from address you’re unfamiliar with and stopping yourself from directly clicking a link if you don’t know where it will take you.
Want to learn the latest on cyber-risks during the pandemic?
These are just some of the cybersecurity vulnerabilities that this “new normal” has created for businesses. GCI is hosting a webinar on May 28 at 12:00 p.m. AKST that will discuss how the current pandemic is affecting cyber-risks for Alaska organizations, and how steps such as the ones listed above can mitigate risk.
I’ll be joined by InfoSec expert Mike Hamilton of CI Security to explore how to significantly lower your exposure to cyber risks. We’ll cover:
- Zero Trust
- How to detect threat actors in under two hours
- The security tools you likely already own but aren’t using