Escalation of Cybersecurity Concerns: Enterprises Witness a Surge in Threats and Attacks Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, According to Recent Studies
In the rapidly evolving landscape of remote work, a survey conducted by Stellar Cyber has revealed that 95% of respondents are facing added IT security challenges due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included 411 respondents from organizations with over 500 employees globally.
The leading threat cited by 55% of respondents was phishing attempts, with malicious websites claiming to offer information or advice about the pandemic being reported by 32% of respondents. Increases in malware were reported by 28%, while ransomware attacks were reported by 19%.
The need for remote access scalable solutions was also a significant concern for 55% of respondents, as was the provision of secure remote access for employees (56%). Employees working from home were found to be using shadow IT solutions - untested software, tools, and services - at a rate of 47%.
Rafi Kretchmer, Head of Product Marketing at Check Point, commented on the findings, stating that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the attack surface of many organizations, compromising their security postures. Check Point's researchers have discovered several 'Coronavirus specials' advertised by hackers on the dark web, using 'Covid-19' or 'coronavirus' as discount codes for sales of out-of-the-box malware.
Check Point's recent findings indicate that Coronavirus-related domains are 50% more likely to be malicious than other domains registered since January 2020. This aligns with the survey results, which reinforce Check Point's findings about the increased maliciousness of Coronavirus-related domains.
In addition, 61% of respondents were concerned about the security risks of having to make rapid changes to enable remote working, while 49% are concerned about the need to scale-up endpoint security. A majority (55%) felt that remote access security needed improving.
According to Check Point, organizations need to protect themselves with a holistic, end-to-end security architecture to ensure security and business continuity in the rapidly evolving situation. As the world continues to adapt to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of robust IT security measures cannot be overstated.
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