How Organizations Can Address COVID-Driven Security Concerns & Mitigate Cyber Threats with Better Cybersecurity Practices
Hikvision On Zero Trust as a Method to Mitigate Security Concerns
Hikvision noted in an April 2020 blog that “Barracuda Networks researchers have seen a steady increase in COVID-19 coronavirus-driven phishing attacks, and since the end of February 2020 they found a 667 percent rise in these attacks.” This trend continued throughout 2020. So how can organizations address security concerns related to coronavirus-driven cyberattacks? In the Security magazine article, “Companies need to enhance cybersecurity amid the continuation of COVID-19 in 2021,” the author offers several actions that can be taken to boost cybersecurity in the pandemic’s wake.
From the article: “Cybercriminals love a good crisis. So, it’s no surprise that they jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to exploit tens of millions of home-based workers who have provided new access points to malware, cyber viruses and phishing attacks. The attack surface for attackers has never been wider.”
The article offers several steps organizations can take to mitigate cyber threats:
- Educating employees is critical. If they are trained to recognize signs of malicious emails or phishing, they will be less likely to click on links that may download malware. Read an overview of phishing by Hikvision’s senior director of cybersecurity here.
- Organizations with substantial portions of work-from-home staff should balance typical firewall and endpoint protection with an increased investment in “detection and response, managed endpoint and response, and vulnerability management services.”
- Ensuring that employee devices as well as company software and systems are up to date can boost cybersecurity. The author recommends pushing updates onto operating systems, instead of waiting for users to be notified of a security patch and then take action.
The article also quoted a cybersecurity professional who cited Zero Trust solutions to boost security. Hikvision covered use of Zero Trust as a method to mitigate security concerns in this blog: “Hikvision Senior Director of Cybersecurity on Using Zero Trust Network to Address Security Concerns.”