Working from home has
become the norm since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. This has drastically
changed the security standards for most organizations.
For many, it was a
simple shift. However, most companies found their IT teams were unequipped for
these monumental changes.
Remote work means the devices, data, and employees remain outside the organization’s physical location. Unfortunately, this scenario increases the vulnerability to cyberattacks. Check Point Research shows a 50% increase in attacks each week in 2021 compared to 2020. Companies are working on expanding their security investments this year.
Here are the latest cybersecurity
trends driven by remote work.
1. Increased Malware Attacks
Many companies were left
unprepared for the organizational tasks of switching from offices to remote
work during the lockdown. Due to this rapid changeover, numerous operations had
no time to plan. Most organizations focused on keeping work-from-home employees
productive and the business operational during that time.
Therefore, companies abandoned traditional security protocols, which increased malware attacks within the last couple of years. In fact, the pandemic raised the cybercrime rate, which led to 4,000 complaints each day with the FBI’s Cyber Division — a large increase from the pre-pandemic days of 1,000.
Most cyberattacks that
affected remote work were spread due to employees accidentally opening a
phishing email. In turn, the workers exposed company networks to high-risk
activities.
Consider supplying your
employees with the right amount of protection. Good antiviral software will
boost their defense and keep them safe from hackers.
2. Synthetic Identities
Synthetic identities are
a growing crime in the U.S. Scammers use real and fake data to form a new identity
and defraud people financially.
These crimes are much
simpler to commit because they involve a credit card request and access to
digital accounts. IT handlers are warning about the surge of organized
recruiters, making it difficult for companies to detect these fraudsters during
the hiring process. In other words, scammers are hired as employees and access
valuable information.
Your organization can
prevent this by investigating candidate identities through public and private
online sources.
3. Artificial Intelligence Weaponry
Organizations are
lowering their budgets and finding ways to combine their security solutions for
remote teams. That is where hyper-automation comes into existence.
Hyper-automation allows
businesses to automate processes using artificial intelligence (AI), machine
learning, and other automation technologies. Using these tools allows for
seamless work depending on the software.
However, automation
poses cybersecurity risk. Hackers use it to attack organizational networks
through remote workers. Their software will spot patterns of defense and then
identify vulnerabilities within similar systems.
Many hackers will
collect data from these attacks, repurpose it, and use it for training their
systems and attacking similar software. As a result, attackers hone in on these
vulnerabilities — making breaches quicker and stealthier.
However, you can prevent
this by using endpoint security systems for remote employees.
4. Data Privacy Concerns
Most businesses collect, store and transfer data — creating more digital footprints each year. About 71% of survey respondents say they have more access to company data at home than before the pandemic. Data is a huge asset and as the digital footprint grows, so do endpoint hackers.
Moreover, attackers are
finding it easier to access remote work information because home-based
employees use unsecured networks.
One of the many security
solutions you should consider for your remote workers is investing in a virtual
private network (VPN). Doing so will protect your remote team from unwanted
cyberattacks and build a secure tunnel between them and your company’s server.
VPNs can secure a remote
network by scrambling the data, so you may expect to see remote workers using
them more regularly.
The Impact of Remote Work and Cybersecurity
More trends in
cybersecurity are likely to emerge as the year progresses. COVID-19 is an
ever-changing landscape. Therefore, it’s difficult to tell how else remote work
will influence cybersecurity changes.
However, you can train
your employees to use sufficient IT protocols and provide them with the tools
they need to succeed. That way, your company can remain on top of cyberattacks.