For chief information security officers (CISOs), the challenge has been twofold. How to keep business operations up and running, while at the same time trying to prevent and mitigate ramped-up security threats.<\/p>\n
Why more hacker activity in the midst of the pandemic? It\u2019s simple. The sudden increase in those working from home, combined with stay-at-home orders from the government, has created a restless, confined population that spends way more time online than it used to.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a simple matter of opportunity.<\/p>\n
While some businesses have been crushed by the new challenges, others have managed to thrive. Let\u2019s take a look at the latter and break down how they\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n
Threat Vulnerabilities Are On the Rise - Fast<\/h2>\n
With non-essential travel almost at a standstill and public gatherings eliminated all but entirely, society has gone digital en masse. Workers and students alike find themselves spending more time in front of the computer than ever before, doing their best to maintain some semblance of normalcy in a world gone haywire, through a host of online collaboration tools.<\/p>\n
And when we\u2019re done working or studying, we stay online to play, shop, read, stream, and chat. The resulting stress placed on cybersecurity systems has applied a multiplying effect to threat vectors:<\/p>\n
Problem #1 - Working from Home<\/h3>\n
While remote work has been on the rise for more than a decade, COVID-inspired rules kicked it into high gear like nothing we\u2019ve seen before. Overnight, companies were forbidden to let employees come into the office, which left a workforce suddenly relocated with little training in how to secure the company data they would be working with or protect their own personal information from theft.<\/p>\n
Further reading<\/span> How MSPs Can Minimize COVID-19 Disruption for Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n Having the knowledge to install or access a virtual private network (VPN)<\/a> and create strong passwords<\/a> for every software, app, or network accessed takes or to encrypt the users' drives<\/a> on more critical importance than ever. The problem is that CISOs everywhere are finding out whether the team paid attention to all that harping on security protocols.<\/p>\n Fine, upstanding citizens aren\u2019t the only people confined to quarters. Hackers have to stay indoors as well, leaving them with more time to perfect their schemes<\/a>, and more time for their victims to let their guard down.<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking about all those funny names: phishing, smishing, smushing, vishing. Call them what you want, but most involve tricking the at-home crowd into believing the sender is a legitimate user. Notably, black-hat social engineers have taken advantage of COVID by pretending they represent various healthcare and charity organizations.<\/p>\n Further reading<\/span> Coronavirus Phishing Awareness Guide<\/a><\/p>\n Hackers are getting creative too. PDF files used to be considered hack-proof. A lot of people believe that this is still the case, but even electronic newsletters or invoices created from templates and saved in that format can be turned into a malware delivery system<\/a>. Worse, the process is so sophisticated that most email scanners won\u2019t detect anything amiss.<\/p>\n While Congress has been busy adding trillions of dollars to the national debt through a variety of aid packages intended to replace the American economy, hackers have kept busy noticing that any time the government gives away money, they typically set up a bunch of new websites. The COVID response has been no different.<\/p>\n Another thing hackers have noticed is that it\u2019s easy to set up a website built around a domain that is very close to the official one (like givememoney.com, instead of givememoney.gov) and load it down with malware that steals social security numbers, banking account numbers, and more. Desperate people -- and there are a lot of them these days -- often don\u2019t even notice that the URL is a scam, so gratefully turn over their personal data to the bad guys.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like shooting fish in a barrel to drive traffic to the bogus site.<\/p>\n Alternatively, hackers know that all these new, legitimate government sites likely have weak security in place, so breaking in is a simple matter.<\/p>\n While the present COVID pandemic is certainly not the first crisis faced by cybersecurity departments, the scale and unpredictability are beyond anything ever encountered in modern times. This takes the ability to draw from past experience off the table. Though there has been no precise playbook to craft a response to COVID\u2019s specific security challenges, successful responses have included iterations of the following:<\/span><\/p>\n The middle of a pandemic is not the time to experiment with untested tools or technology unless it is in direct support of business operations. Instead, simplify where you can. Spend your time detecting, preventing, and mitigating threats that target operations. If you haven\u2019t used multi-factor authentication<\/a> with employees before, now is the time to start. Likewise, do a roll call to make sure everyone knows how to connect to the Internet through a VPN<\/a> and why they should do it.<\/p>\n Hopefully, you already have detailed plans in place on the exact steps that should be taken in the event of a security incident. If not, create them immediately and run tests to make sure they are effective. The only thing worse than a compromised network is a compromised network that stays that way because no one knows how to seal it back up.<\/p>\n Keep an especially close eye on new collaboration or software tools<\/a> the team uses. These are likely vulnerability points where new strains of malware will appear<\/a>. Also, watch employees and endpoints. The goal is to try and catch, isolate, and kill a new threat before it is able to have an adverse impact on operations.<\/p>\n![\"CTA\"](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/bcfa34a1-273d-49a3-b24f-0878ce601a54.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n![\"WP](\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/wp_pic_preview.png\")
<\/div>\n![\"CTA\"](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/c3cc0ee2-7384-4564-bf4b-406af3fdbdd9.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nProblem #2 - Hackers Are Bored Too<\/h3>\n
Problem #3 - Hidden in the Chaos<\/h3>\n
Here\u2019s What the Smart CISOs Are Doing<\/h2>\n
Focus on Mission-Critical<\/h3>\n
Test Incident Response<\/h3>\n
![\"Whitepaper](\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/PDF.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"CTA\"](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/62d663a3-9fca-42d8-9dc3-fdc92166abc0.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMonitor Everything<\/h3>\n