A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR CYBERCRIMINALS

Cybercriminals are trying to exploit the Coronavirus crisis considering employees, who are working from home, an easy target

- Ashok Pandey

COVID-19 has impacted many of us in multiple ways. The sudden scenario of remote working during this lockdown period has brought multiple challenges. The fragmented remote access infrastructures are very much evident now as they are only designed for 20% of an organizations’ workforce.

The risks get worse due to adversaries who see this as an opportunity to steal more data and other commodities. It is an opportune time for malicious cyber attackers to exploit any gaps in our control measures to get their desired information. Ashwin Pal, Director of Cyber Security, Asia Pacific, Unisys, shared the key threats emerging as a result of COVID19:

VPN allowing unnecessary access – VPNs, by nature, allows an employee full access to resources once they have authenticated by the network. This may be ok when they are within the confines of an office environment, but may not be the case if they are working remotely. In general, 80% of employees will only need access to 20% of the infrastructure and applications.