The Covid-19 pandemic has been a seismic humanitarian crisis that has also severely affected economies around the world. The levels of unforeseen disruption the virus has caused for businesses have left many companies struggling to maintain their levels of security as more workers look to operate remotely. But how pertinent is the threat of cybercrime in the age of the ‘new normal’ and how can businesses adapt to limit online threats?
The dust is settling as vaccines begin to combat the threat of Covid. Despite this, many experts are predicting that the age of remote work is here to stay – owing to the financial benefits for both employers and employees alike and the huge rise in successful use cases over the past year.
Despite many businesses shifting their operations to allow more working from home, too few leaders are dedicating their time and resources towards adapting their cybersecurity to keep their workers and the company itself safe from threats online.
Statistics indicate that cyber-related claims are rising significantly following the Covid pandemic. This shows that business owners and managers need to adapt accordingly to an increasingly remote working environment. Let’s take a deeper look into the challenge of embracing cybersecurity awareness training in the age of the ‘new normal’:
The need for greater security
The rise of remote work calls for a greater emphasis on cybersecurity, owing to the increased levels of exposure employees have to cyber risk. This need is underlined by the fact that 47% of individuals fall for some form of phishing scams while working from home.
Cybercriminals view the Covid-19 pandemic as a chance to step up their activities by exploiting vulnerable users working from home and capitalizing on people’s high-interest levels in Coronavirus news. This can be done by creating malicious fake Covid-related websites to lure unsuspecting users in. Another key consideration to make is that the average cost of a data breach resulting from remote working can be as high as $137,000.
In July 2020, police in London reported that in the first half of the year, over £11 million had been lost due to Covid-19 scams. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, around one-in-seven individuals surveyed claimed to have experienced a cyberattack during the pandemic.
Bracing for new challenges
There’s little doubting that opening up your key business resources to remote workers while keeping your most valuable assets safe is a difficult balancing act for the majority of companies. However, this can be remedied by ensuring that your employees receive the necessary training to prepare them for the ‘new normal’ of life in remote work.
As we become more remote, it’s absolutely imperative that your employees, wherever they may be, are fully aware of the new risks that they face when accessing work documents from their laptops, PCs, or company device from home.
This new climate of cybersecurity awareness is a brand new challenge that many workers around the world wouldn’t have faced yet. With this in mind, it may be worth setting them up with a cybersecurity awareness training program – especially if they frequently come into contact with sensitive data.
Although there are likely to be more uncertain times ahead for businesses as the world emerges from the Covid crisis and into the era of the ‘new normal’, it’s clear that managing risk and combating cyber threats and will be vital to cybersecurity success in the future. Businesses that look to quickly anticipate this adaptation are likely to find themselves in good stead in the post-pandemic era.
