Financial services firms in the UK were hit hard in 2020, with 70% experiencing a successful cyber-attack and most of these blaming COVID-related conditions for the incident, according to Keeper Security. The password security firm commissioned the Ponemon Institute to poll over 370 UK IT security leaders in the sector, as part of a larger global study. It revealed that the rapid shift to remote working forced on businesses during the pandemic provided threat actors with an opportunity to target remote workers.
Over half (57%) of respondents argued that cyber-attacks are increasing in severity as a result of work-from-home (WFH) and 41% argued that remote workers are putting the business at risk of a major data breach. Respondents were most concerned about a lack of physical security wherever their employees are remote working from (48%) and their devices becoming infected with malware (34%). This matters in the UK especially as it boasts more privileged users than any other country: 31% of remote workers have access to critical, sensitive and proprietary information.
Trend Micro research last year revealed that home workers often engage in more risky behavior than when they are at the office. When combined with the surge in COVID-19 phishing emails and devices that may be shared with other users in the same household and/or less well protected than corporate equivalents, it adds up to a potential perfect storm of risk. Insufficient budget and lack of know-how on combatting cyber-attacks were flagged by respondents as the biggest IT security challenges with remote working.
They were most concerned about the threat to customer records (50%) and financial information (48%). IT security managers right to be worried, given the potential regulatory and reputational impact of a breach.
Red Sky Alliance has been has analyzing and documenting cyber threats for 9 years and maintains a resource library of malware and cyber actor reports. To help organizations protect their Work from Home (WFH) employees, Red Sky Alliance has introduced their RedXray cyber threat notification service that can notify cyber security teams for potential cyber threats on a daily basis, https://www.wapacklabs.com/redxray. At home workers can add their IP addresses to the RedXray enrollment page and they are automatically added to the notifications. This is one more way Red Sky Alliance is helping organizations through the COVID-19 lockdown. RedXray can be used by customers at any location in the world.
The installation, updating and monitoring of firewalls, cyber security and proper employee training are keys to blocking attacks. Please feel free to contact our analyst team for research assistance and Cyber Threat Analysis on your organization.
Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs.com.
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