Now is also the time to be vigilant against cyber attacks

There’s no time like a crisis to encourage cybercriminals to exploit the growing numbers of employees that are trying to keep their businesses running by virtual means. Remote working will create new opportunities to steal sensitive information and for new types of social engineering tactics. Legitimately fearful and distracted by the spread of COVID-19, employees are seen by criminals as particularly vulnerable targets of phishing and ransomware attacks.

Along with the efforts to protect ourselves from COVID-19, now is a time to be particularly vigilant against the relentless cyber attacks aimed at companies and the people they employ. As quarantines become more prevalent, forcing individuals to increasingly work from remote locations, it will take a determined focus by all parts of an organization to maintain proper controls on sensitive information and finances.

Along with the efforts to protect ourselves from COVID-19, now is a time to be particularly vigilant against the relentless cyber attacks aimed at companies and the people they employ.

COVID-19 is a stark reminder that unseen and intangible risks can, have a devastating impact on lives and businesses. Just two years ago, the NotPetya virus spread around the globe and caused losses estimated as high as $10 billion. These threats must be treated with their own form of hygiene to prevent infection.

Part of the approach is to re-emphasize to employees the preventive measures that companies likely already have in place. Practical tips such as: do not open mail or click links from untrusted users, never provide account details to unknown sources, report suspicious activity and immediately seek internal help if an infection is suspected are just a few that companies have reinforced in recent years.

Before allowing remote connections, companies should be certain that employees have adequate training to fend off potential cyberattacks and are knowledgeable about how to report a compromise.

But the current environment requires an even higher level of digital resiliency. Before allowing remote connections, companies should be certain that employees have adequate training to fend off potential cyberattacks and are knowledgeable about how to report a compromise – particularly when they are working remotely. Only secure connections, preferably through a virtual private network (VPN) or other encrypted mechanism should be permitted. Multi-factor authentication is another common layer of security which should be deployed across networks. These tried and true preventive measures will not only maintain a secure digital environment but will reduce overall cyber risk for the organization.

Other cyber risk management methods may not be as well-known, particularly for smaller companies. For example, a mobile device management approach, creates security controls and an encrypted environment for documents and emails in employees’ computers, tablets and smartphones. And companies that use cloud services should confirm that their security configurations are appropriately strong and monitored for unauthorized manipulation.

It is likely that IT departments will require more resources to maintain the technical infrastructure and manage the heightened fragility of networks.

IT departments must ensure that configurations are up to date, newly discovered vulnerabilities are patched immediately and that any attempts to connect from suspicious Internet addresses are detected timely. The department should “blacklist” access in countries where employees would have no reason to be connecting to the corporate network. It is likely that IT departments will require more resources to maintain the technical infrastructure and manage the heightened fragility of networks that are being strained by the increased number of remote connections.

The success or failure of addressing cyber threats during the COVID-19 pandemic will help answer some of the questions that businesses are anxiously weighing: Are our preventive capabilities and capacities adequate? Can we rely on external service providers in a cyber pandemic, given the demands on their resources? And how do we ensure that digital supply chains of computing capacity, data storage and platforms on which applications operate are threat-resilient?

As we work through an unprecedented health crisis dealt by the coronavirus, we must not overlook the cyber exposure it brings with it. And, in the same way that we are strengthening our defenses against COVID-19, we should not overlook the parallel work that needs to be done to ensure a healthy and sustainable cyber future.

By Lori Bailey, Global Head of Cyber Risk, Zurich Insurance Group