The arrival of the pandemic caused the closure of the vast majority of offices, which led companies to begin to adopt teleworking in order to maintain work activity. This caused cyberattacks to grow by 240%, causing big problems and even the closure of many companies.
In this article, we tell you the main risks of teleworking and some measures to avoid them.
The era of teleworking
Teleworking made it possible for many companies to survive the pandemic caused by Covid 19. However, this caused a large breach in computer security.
Cybercriminals have seen the vulnerabilities of companies so they have not hesitated to launch cyberattacks against them. Undoubtedly, the weakest link of companies are their workers, who are unaware of the computer risks that exist today.
Due to the beginning of teleworking, many companies have had to create new policies where they specify the responsibilities of each employee during these working days, as well as those cybersecurity policies.
Teleworking has made information such as:
- Accounting data such as invoices and payroll.
- Financial data: statements of accounts, balance sheets.
- Data for operation: contracts, company data or projects.
- Customer data such as sensitive customer information may harm the business.
With teleworking, companies were always aware of the risks that existed in terms of computer security. And, indeed, since the pandemic cyberattacks were on the rise and many companies began to take cybersecurity as a fundamental factor for the maintenance of their business.
The most frequent cyberattacks
The most common cyberattacks by criminals are:
- Ransomware: The main target is data hijacking through this malicious software. It is quite common that a ransom is requested after these cyberattacks, which is usually monetary in exchange for the stolen information.
- Phishing: is one of the most common cyberattacks. Email spoofing is an attack that usually causes serious consequences. The most common is that employees do not know the possibility of receiving a false email and send the information specified in that email believing that they send it to the sender of the mail.
- Fake updates: through pop-ups cybercriminals are able to launch messages like that the browser needs to be updated and it’s actually not true.
- Fraudulent tools: The applications that employees use to be able to perform their work are also an opportunity for these cyber criminals. An example of these is those tools that are used to carry out video conferences.
- Unupdated computers: Those systems that are not updated are the easiest target for cybercriminals. You should always have the latest version of any application and system.
- Attacks against the cloud: These types of cyberattacks have become more frequent in recent years since after all, we are all aware that everything is stored in the cloud and cyber criminals are aware of it, so they are able to get confidential information from any company.
How to avoid suffering any of these cyberattacks?
It is essential to be aware of all these risks when teleworking, but you also have to know how to avoid them. There are a number of measures with which to prevent and avoid such cyberattacks:
- Beware of passwords: Constantly changing passwords will be able to prevent these attacks. In addition to not entering passwords on those sites that apparently look fraudulent.
- Have an antivirus system: usually, the computers of companies already have an antivirus to avoid any type of intrusion into the system.
- Train employees: it is one of the most important measures, since as we have said before the worker is the weakest link and if he is not aware of the risks it is more than likely that he will make mistakes that end in computer incidents.
- Make backups: it is essential in case of a cyberattack to be able to recover all the information.
- Keep computers up to date: having the most up-to-date version of computers prevents the entry of many hackers.
- Have security protocols: in case of suffering a cyberattack, companies must have protocols to follow to avoid further damage and be able to solve the attack without a problem.
Teleworking has its positive side and its negative side and that is why companies must be aware of the dangers they run and start prioritizing cybersecurity in their company.
Many companies believe that investing in cybersecurity is an unnecessary expense, especially SMEs, which do not have enough economic means to invest in cybersecurity and yet are the main targets of cybercriminals.
The first thing a company should be aware of is its weak points in security and regarding that look for solutions that adapt to its needs. To do this, it would be best to carry out security audits.
CENTUM Digital and its cybersecurity solutions
In CENTUM Digital we are aware of the risks that are run today in terms of cybersecurity and that is why we believe it is important in addition to raising awareness among companies is to train all its members in cybersecurity to avoid suffering a cyberattack.
We have cybersecurity awareness and training services through which we can show companies the importance of cybersecurity and the risks that companies assume today if they do not have good security systems.
