Coalition announced the results of its H1 2020 Cyber Insurance Claims Report, which explores top cybersecurity trends and threats facing organizations today, in addition to data showing the impact of COVID-19 on cyber insurance claims.
The pandemic has redefined what it means to be a resilient business, especially when it comes to retail. “Essential” businesses that have remained open, such as supermarkets or pharmacies, have had to figure out how to operate safely in this new world. No matter the type of retailer, the importance of cybersecurity hasn’t gone away. If anything, it becomes more important as a cyber disruption could be the fatal final straw for a business looking for a smooth return to operations and maintain its brand image and reputation.
In 2019, Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks – a long-standing cybersecurity threat – accounted for $1.7 billion in losses, with cybercriminals using new tactics and techniques to carry out existing attacks. As cybercrime spikes in the wake of COVID-19, BEC’s toll is expected to rise this year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued a warning to businesses on the growing threat of BEC attacks using the pandemic as a backdrop for unusual requests like payments to a “new” vendor or a change of account information.
Network administrators have long been stretched thin in their attempts to maintain global endpoint security settings, configurations and patching. Now that most, if not all, of their organization’s employees are connecting remotely, the job has become even more difficult.
Remote work is testing organizations, putting their IT departments under great stress. Like employees, many companies were unprepared for the many challenges of this seismic shift, one of which has been the dramatic changes in network and enterprise boundaries. Suddenly, securing endpoints became — and continues to be — a top concern.
The unfolding COVID-19 crisis has been the most significant test of the world’s internet infrastructure to date. With employers and schools moving to remote environments, the expectation was that the expanded use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools like video conferencing would lead to crippling levels of web traffic. On top of that, experts anticipated the increase in internet use would prompt a corresponding rise in network attacks from cybercriminals. Many in the industry were concerned that the internet would not be able to sustain these unseen levels of duress.
While cyber threats continue to be a massive drain on business productivity, there is another, less obvious vulnerability: unintentional employee error. Indeed, a majority of businesses say that simple human error is their leading cause of data loss.
Here, we talk to Mohit Tiwari, CEO and co-founder of Symmetry Systems, about the current threat landscape, the role of CISOs and the unique challenges COVID-19 and work-from-home (WFH) pose to CISOs and security teams.