Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020: Overcoming new threats
Every year since 2003, October has been designated Cybersecurity Awareness Month – a time to reflect on our safety habits online and to raise awareness of the increasing importance of cybersecurity for businesses and individuals alike.
This year’s theme is ‘Think Before U Click’ (#ThinkB4UClick), a slogan that stresses the importance of personal accountability and a proactive approach to improving cybersecurity through changing habits on a micro level. Indeed, according to cyber security company MetaCompliance, over 90 percent of all cyberattacks are caused by human error.
Now, with malicious actors seeking to take advantage of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the threat of a cyberattack is more elevated than ever. As such, it is imperative to seek professional guidance in order to build effective cyber resilience in 2020 and beyond.
In this article, industry experts from a variety of technology disciplines discuss how cybersecurity is evolving in a rapidly changing world, the threats we face and the consequences of inadequate cybersecurity measures.
Managing cyber risk with a distributed workforce
For businesses, 2020 has brought a variety of new cyber challenges. Resilience and continuity strategies have hence had to adapt to remote working to effectively manage the security risk associated with the ‘new normal’. Chris Hodson, CISO, Tanium, describes how many of the issues that emerged at the start of lockdown resulted from considerably overestimating preparedness for the security challenges that came with shifting to a distributed working environment.
“Our research found that 85 percent of business leaders thought they were prepared to manage the shift to widespread WFH. This confidence turned out to be ill-founded with 98 percent admitting they faced security challenges in the transition away from the office.”
“Not only did widespread remote working exacerbate existing issues,” Hodson continues, “it also created a host of new security challenges, allowing cyber criminals to run amok during a period of deep confusion and uncertainty for businesses. Whether companies choose to permanently move their operations, return employees to the office, or some combination of both, implementing tools such as endpoint management and efficient security solutions should be a priority.”
Source: IT Pro Portal