Since March 2020, the effects of the COVID’19 outbreak on companies have increased sharply. According to researches, companies have been experiencing serious problems with cybersecurity since the beginning of the epidemic. One reason for this is said to be new methods developed by hackers, specifically for the epidemic.
The researchers conducted surveys with IT experts from companies with influence in various regions to support this information. According to the survey results, companies’ stance against cybersecurity and attacks has changed greatly since the pandemic started. However, according to IT experts’ answers, companies still do not take the issue of cybersecurity seriously.
Why Has the COVID’19 Outbreak Affected Companies So Much?
- The operational technology infrastructure of the companies was not properly protected against attacks.
- Twenty percent of the companies were not paying enough attention to cybersecurity.
In the pandemic, companies’ operational and information technology infrastructures have improved, and companies have started to focus on cybersecurity. Also, the pandemic has revealed the importance of internal team dependence. In light of these developments, most companies now feel that they are taking the necessary precautions against attacks.
What are the Effects of the COVID’19 Outbreak on Companies?
As a result of the global pandemic, companies transitioned to working from home and this created an advantageous environment for attacks. Hackers did not neglect to diversify their attacks and try new methods by taking advantage of this environment. Most of the IT experts surveyed said that the number of attacks has risen to alarming levels since the pandemic began. Also, they stated that the work for IT departments was getting heavy.
1. COVID-19 increased dependence between different departments of companies. In particular, the dependence between IT departments and operational departments has reached an unprecedented level. After the epidemic, these two departments began to pay attention to working interdependently. If it goes on like this, it seems that internal dependence will increase even more.
Although this convergence provides many advantages in certain respects, it can also have certain negative effects. For example, moving operations to internet-based environments can require a lot of training, disrupting daily work. However, it is important to establish this infrastructure in such a critical period. If dealt with later, these shortcomings can cause serious problems.
2. With the pandemic, companies moved their daily work to remote working. This increased the number of devices connected to the internet used in operations. As a result, it made operations vulnerable. All of this has led to a fundamental concept entering the corporate language—operational technology security. The increasing number of attacks during the remote working period revealed the importance of operational technology security. Many companies are already working on this concept.
One of the reasons why this concept has gained importance is that hackers are turning to this field. Hackers now know that companies are taking many precautions when it comes to IT networks, and attacking these networks directly tries to infiltrate the company through operational networks. In other words, the smallest vulnerabilities found in your operational networks can cause attacks. Therefore, not paying attention to operational technologies has become one of the biggest mistakes made when it comes to cyber-attacks.
What Else Can Be Done To Minimize The Effects of the COVID’19 Outbreak on Companies?
1. Prepare your employees for cyberattacks using phishing simulations.
Practice makes perfect. The best tool against cyberattacks is preparing yourself for the attacks in advance. Being able to identify the possible threats is the starting point of any protection. By using our phishing simulator, you can organize unique tests for your company. You can create different scenarios depending on the time of the year and current issues your company is facing. We give you the result of the simulations immediately. The results are prepared accordingly to your needs. You can identify the weakest links in the organization and take action to improve your systems.
2. Find the damaged technologies in your organization using email gap analysis tools.
Early diagnosis is critical if there is a problem or a part that is now working properly in your technologies. With our email gap analysis tools, you can periodically check your technology (like firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spam). Using simulated tests to mimic the attacks affecting your company through emails, we test your systems to find anything damaged. The results help you find the vulnerabilities and make necessary arrangements.
“This post is originally published at www.phishing.org.uk”
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