We talk to Alan Duric, co-founder and CTO/COO of Wire, a secure collaboration platform, about the various threats facing enterprises today, as well as how organizations can protect their employees and assets, and why organizations (and vendors) need to make a fundamental change to how they operate by implementing better security, technology, and approaches to build a security-first infrastructure.

In September 2020, a ransomware attack forced 6,000 elementary students to shutdown learning at the Newhall School District. Newhall isn't alone. In addition, Harford Public School, Miami Dade County, Haywood County School district in North Carolina are others that experienced similar circumstances.  With ransomware surging nearly 110% and no end in sight for remote learning, the environment is ripe for cyberattacks to escalate. To get some insight, we spoke to Dmitriy Ayrapetov, Vice President of Platform Architecture at SonicWall.

In 2020, we adapted. So did bad guys. The FBI saw a 400% increase in cyberattacks as adversaries probed the new landscape for vulnerabilities. We haven’t even begun to see the results of these attacks. 2020 blew up expectations, and we should expect more of the same in the coming years.

In the age of heightened public cloud adoption and widespread cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) usage, cybercriminals are making use of OAuth – a permissions delegation and authorization protocol – to compromise cloud environments. As such, controlling which applications users interact with has become a business imperative. Let’s take a closer look at what OAuth is, the role it plays in allowing users to access resources across environments, the ways attackers are abusing OAuth and what organizations can do to better protect their cloud data.

From introducing contactless payment options to offering new virtual services, small businesses moved swiftly to expand their offerings and digital capabilities in light of social distancing guidelines. In the midst of these changes, however, it’s critical for small businesses and restaurants to make sure they’re guarding against potential cyber threats. Here are key steps they can take to help ensure that they stay protected.

Many organizations are planning to continue with remote work until at least late spring 2021 while others will continue to migrate to a distributed workforce as part of their long-term business plans. With all of this in mind, a quick look at the cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance Magic 8 Ball indicates that “all signs point to yes” for continued attacks and digital transformation.

While the rough seas may be behind businesses, now is not the time to rest. It’s important for security leaders to remain diligent about their company’s security posture and adapt to the latest state of the world. Focusing on people, processes, and technology is not only the foundation to a solid cybersecurity strategy, but also absolutely critical at a time where workers have never been further from security teams’ protection.

Is your company’s cybersecurity policy as effective as it should be amid these tumultuous times? And if you’re not an employee but the owner of a small business – typically someone with much less sophisticated cybersecurity protection – how does your online security stack up? The answer: Cybersecurity has improved, but markedly more has to be done to secure networks in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, as the number of cyberattacks has become staggering.

As global tensions continue to escalate, the Internet may find itself used as a weapon, something we are already starting to see happen, by nations attempting to exert their influence and enforce greater internal control over digital commerce and communication. Nations must recognize the threat of escalation beyond the point of no return and take steps to ensure that the interconnectivity of the open Internet remains intact long-term. This will prevent a “cyber dark age” in which governments implement national Internet protocols and stop the free flow of data across borders.