The pandemic has taught business owners a great deal about risks, highlighting the need for disaster recovery plans that adapt right alongside threat landscapes. This is especially the case with regards to cybersecurity which, with increases of up to 400%, has proven even more fatal to many businesses than the pandemic itself. As risk landscapes changed at a speed even adept businesses struggled to keep on top of, opportunists and organised cybercriminals alike were certainly on hand to take advantage with an astounding 4,000 attacks a day, many of which used the pandemic as a springboard. It’s a low blow but, to ensure they come back fighting, it’s one that businesses need to deflect. So, what exactly do these new risks look like, and how can we survive them?
By Team Savant
Image: Shahadat Rahman
System Failures Secure An In-Point
As businesses had to shift towards entirely new systems and infrastructures without warning, security gaps were inevitable, especially in light of software that was either new on the market, or ill-prepared for such wide scale implementation.
Luckily, software providers have adapted quite quickly, but businesses still need to take their own steps to stay safe. Specifically, companies who implemented new software this past year could benefit from turning to an IT consultant who can provide a knowledgeable, and inclusive review of overall function. This ensures that companies are in the best position to understand where new software is failing, and what exactly they can do to bridge those gaps.
Businesses Must Defend Against DDoS Attacks
Unlike other security breaches, DDoS attacks that crash company servers are possible without an in-point and, in many instances, come from tech-minded individuals rather than organised cybercrime groups. This makes them harder to prevent, a fact which, when paired with increasing reliance on tech infrastructure this past year, has led to increases of around 115%.
Moving forward, businesses need to shift security to cover this rising risk, with increased knowledge of why and how DDoS attacks happen, ongoing monitoring to spot threats as they arise, and improved tech infrastructure for increased traffic capacity to keep DDoS at bay.
Time To Go Phishing
Phishing attacks have also flourished this year, with targeted spear-phishing proving especially problematic under a pandemic guise. This has led to a drastic increase in malware, and specifically ransomware, the ransoms of which were paid by 57.5% of businesses simply to avoid further complications.
Phishing attacks are obviously nothing new, but, with targeted approaches making risks harder to spot, companies looking to stay safe also need to focus on training at ground level and, in particular, private networks that keep individual phishing slip-ups away from larger business, and data, infrastructures.
Conclusion
The pandemic has thrown a great deal up in the air from a business perspective, and, unfortunately, many of the security precautions that businesses have spent years building have gone along with them. To make sure this fact alone doesn’t prove fatal, it’s past time that businesses put their security on life support and tailored medication (or future processes) with these new risk factors in mind.