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Recapping the State of Cybersecurity 2020 – Continuing to Manage Change

It’s been quite a month, hasn’t it? After such a busy October, filled with new information and challenges around the ongoing pandemic, we thought it might be helpful to look quickly back to September and the current state of cybersecurity.

Recent COVID-19 spikes are hitting many companies hard as employees get sick and take time off and customers stay away to stay safe. This, plus the most promising vaccines won’t be dispersed throughout the population for some time, means many companies must continue to rely on the current work-from-home (WFH) model for the long term. In fact, some companies have already made the decision to maintain remote work for many employees even after the pandemic threat has passed.

As a reminder, outside of the 543% increase in ransomware variants in 2019 alone, other types of cyberattacks have increased since the pandemic began, such as:

• ZOOM and other video conference breaches
• Calls to helpdesks from malicious agents to get temporary credentials or change passwords
• Phishing emails around COVID-19 (false trackers, false information)
• Malware exploiting the uncertainty and doubt around continuing remote work
• Fraudulent emails, social media, or other digital communications targeting employees

As a result, companies must continue to make cybersecurity improvements a high priority, to protect corporate assets and information from cyberattacks. This is more complicated when your employees are working from home, where it is harder to keep assets like computers and tablets secure. This vulnerability makes it important for companies to continue developing and enacting a long-term, comprehensive WFH strategy to help remote workers enforce and buy in to required security practices, such as:

• Staying off risky websites when using company assets
• Not plugging non-work-related or unapproved devices into company computers
• Increasing caution and awareness around the risks of unsolicited emails, even if they appear to be from within the company
• Complying with needed remote security updates
• Following the established processes to verify credentials and avoid giving access to passwords or other sensitive information

Implementing or enhancing systems to track the equipment your employees take home and how it connects to your network can help reduce unknown individuals from gaining access. In addition, robust patch management is highly important to make sure any potential vulnerabilities are quickly shored up.

Richey May has been on top of these complicated factors since the beginning of the pandemic, meaning we can help advise you on the most appropriate ways for your company to manage this long-term WFH requirement while keeping your assets and information secure. For example, to help you provide thorough, comprehensive patching of software vulnerabilities, we provide remote systems management and security through our RMTS-Patch services, providing endpoint patching and end-user support with low operational costs. This includes the ability to provide robust:

• Remote support sessions
• Software patching
• Configuration management

We also help you assess where your current cybersecurity practices can be enhanced or adjusted to fit your needs. Our Technology Solutions team performs thorough cybersecurity assessments, advising you on how to develop your customized incident response plan and providing skilled engineering and integration to help you implement the systems you need to protect your organization. We even provide Virtual Chief Information Security Officer services to manage it all for you with worry free support.

The end result enabled you to focus on your business while we keep your assets safe, through the COVID-19 pandemic and into the expanding future of remote work.