Cybercriminals will target anybody and everything during the Covid-19 outbreak, even if they pledge not to. All businesses, regardless of their size, industry, or geographic location, are vulnerable. Every organization, whether it is a small or medium-sized business or a giant multinational corporation, is a possible target.
The goal of ransomware and phishing assaults is to throw a wide net and hope that someone will fall for the bait. Because their security posture is often less robust, SMEs are increasingly being attacked. To strengthen your defenses, having technology measures in place, such as effective firewalls or mandating encryption, is insufficient.
Workers are another aspect of your cybersecurity toolkit that must be kept up to date. Increase your organization’s cyber resilience and reduce your risk by providing security awareness training and ensuring that staff is aware of growing cyber attacks.
Cyber Attacks and Hurricanes
Communities are most vulnerable when natural disasters strike, such as hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and floods. People are worried and preoccupied. Unfortunately, cybercriminals perceive the disarray as an opportunity. They take advantage of the misunderstanding to cause even more devastation by launching ransomware attacks against physical infrastructure such as electric grids, fuel pipelines, and water systems.
When natural disasters strike, the number of cyber attacks increases dramatically. Many online occurrences are now inextricably tied to physical ones. Following hurricanes, for example, states like Louisiana and Florida see an exponential increase in cyber attacks.
When the European Union (EU) enacted the Network and Information Security (NIS) directive in July 2016, European states selected the sectors that were vital to the running of their economy and the security of their countries. These industries have the best defense against cyber-attacks.
The level of information system security in large private enterprises is still variable and relies on the industry. Banks are the most advanced in terms of cybersecurity because they have long relied on digital tools. Cybersecurity technologies are being developed by service companies, notably B2C firms. Manufacturing enterprises are the least equipped of all large organizations to face cyber threats.
The most susceptible are SMEs and medium-sized businesses. They lack the financial means to invest in cybersecurity as well as the essential cybersecurity capabilities. However, according to Insee figures, they account for 73 % of French occupations, or more than 19 million jobs, and a “cyber hurricane” may potentially produce a severe economic crisis.
How to Protect from a Cyber Attack
When the world is in chaos, hackers take advantage of the situation to steal data, break into networks, exploit individuals, and put corporate operations at risk. Their preferred methods of doing so include ransomware and phishing campaigns. (Here are the 5 Most popular Cyber Attack types).
The most common ransom demand from hackers is bitcoin. Cryptocurrency isn’t merely a way for criminals to mask their tracks. It’s also a terrific technique to get around the recently imposed bank bans. Hackers currently have a lot of experience and may even have many systems set up and ready to attack. As a result, it is only reasonable to predict an increase in ransomware assaults on several fronts.
When it comes to phishing attempts, we should anticipate increasing disaster frauds. Fraudsters will take advantage of the situation following major global events and disasters such as hurricanes, pandemics, or war.
They will take advantage of real victims’ vulnerabilities (such as refugees) and onlookers’ empathy to get important personal information or money. They may even create fake relief funds and solicit donations.
Ransomware assaults have increased in frequency and also the price paid in ransom in the last two years. According to some cybersecurity experts, Russia, the world’s biggest “ransomware as a service” distributor, is responsible for up to 74% of these ransomware attacks.
- Make sure all software is up to date, and encourage your staff to apply all critical software updates and delete any obsolete software or apps from their computers and phones.
- Wherever practical, enable multi-factor authentication. This also applies to the personal social media accounts of employees.
- Consider making a password change mandatory, especially for accounts with sensitive data or privileged access. Password managers should also be made a security requirement in your organization at this time.
- Send out regular cybersecurity awareness reminders about the necessity of keeping your devices up to date, as well as phishing and other emerging methods like vishing and smishing.
- Introduce adult-oriented cybersecurity awareness training regularly. This entails regular, bite-sized training that fits into a hectic schedule and gradually introduces different security themes.
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