One lesson to be learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is that during a time of fear, confusion and uncertainty, cybercriminals show no mercy.
At a time when workers and their employers should be more worried about the health of their families and the world's ability to overcome a virus, the number of phishing campaigns is skyrocketing. Malicious messages ostensibly from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other healthcare facilities wait in your employees' inboxes with links to click and files to download. They promise advice on battling COVID-19, request charitable donations or promise vaccine kits and tests. They're actually aiming to steal personal data, credentials and bank information.
Phishing isn't the only infosec challenge resulting from COVID-19. Cybersecurity scams also contain ransomware. Security experts fear ransomware threats will affect businesses and also governments, healthcare facilities and organizations researching the pandemic and developing a cure.
Many organizations weren't prepared to handle the surge in the remote workforce that resulted from governments advocating social distancing and telework. Beyond ensuring employees don't fall for phishing scams and ransomware threats, issues such as VPN capacity, application whitelisting, data protection and multifactor authentication rushed to the top of security teams' to-do lists. Overnight, investing in new policies, systems and technologies for endpoint data protection became urgent.
In this guide, read up on coronavirus phishing scams and review best practices your employees need now. Consider, too, predictions by cybersecurity analysts and executives on the expected uptick in ransomware attacks, along with steps enterprises can take to prepare. Finally, learn how two companies have bolstered their security and business continuity measures with endpoint data protection for their remote workforces. This information will prove invaluable as your company navigates the turbulent cybersecurity effects of COVID-19 and help it better prepare for a future pandemic.
