It’s not enough to blindly trust WFH employees with sensitive company data. In the era of coronavirus, data leaks are up, while few, if any, files are properly protected. Home computers are especially vulnerable to attack. Remote work is here to stay.
- The Cyentia Institute found the most expensive cybersecurity breaches caused a median loss of $47 million USD. Companies that responded slowly saw their losses increase to $103 million, whereas quicker responders lost $39 million.
- Only 5% of companies’ folders are properly protected, on average. (Varonis)
- In a poll of about 9,000 managers and employees across large firms in Europe, it was revealed that only 15% of companies in the survey had flexible work policies before the pandemic. By summer, that figure reached 76% as the pandemic forced firms to rethink what their workdays should look like. The majority of respondents — 88% — said they expected some hybrid form of remote working to continue after the pandemic ends.
- One in three cyberattacks is corona virus related. The NCSC’s Annual Review 2020 shows that the GCHQ’s cyber department has handled 200 cyber incidents related to coronavirus during the course of this year – almost a third of the total number of incidents for which it was called.
- “Code42’s latest data shows that in the past 30 days alone, companies have had literally millions of files exposed — more than half of which were high-value data and intellectual property, such as business documents and source-code files (the ‘crown jewels’ in many organizations).” See this article in ThreatPost for more info.
- Since February 2020, phishing emails have spiked over 600%.
