You may stay protected against the highly infectious Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 and also from other perils like road accidents, snatching etc by staying indoor, but you would get exposed to cyber criminals due to use of internet for online purchase, financial transactions through net banking, mobile wallets etc and also by working from home.
So, there is a potential danger that you may get hijacked in the virtual world through identity theft and/or by other means by cyber criminals, who may leave you penniless after sweeping your bank accounts clean.
Sniffing the opportunity at the time of lockdown, desperate cyber criminals are using coronavirus-themed emails and files as a lure for weeks and are now searching for ways to actively target the collaboration platforms, virtual private networks (VPNs), and systems currently used by companies for remote work to take advantage of weaker security.
The concept of work from home is not new, but distance does not mean compromise, especially when it comes to security.
However, with unforeseen circumstances of COVID-19, most of the organisations are suddenly forced to practice this ‘Work from Home’ (WFH) culture. This has opened doors for the cybersecurity attackers and increased the possibility of a spike in hacks and breaches targeting businesses.
“With unforeseen circumstances of COVID-19, most of the organisations are suddenly forced to practice this WFH culture which has opened doors for the bad actors and increased the possibility of spike in hacks and breaches targeting businesses. Taking advantage of the global health crisis caused by the outbreak of novel Coronavirus, cybercriminals can use phishing and exploit users with their data and login credentials as well as distribute malware, trojans, backdoors for larger attacks,” said Rajesh Kumar, Director, Cybersecurity, Netrika Consulting India Pvt, Ltd.
Therefore, it has become critical to ensure employees’ training in cyber range to prepare for this challenge.