COVID-19, that started as a health disaster, slowly and gradually became an online security threat as well. Hackers and fraudsters started creeping their way into industries that were earlier deemed as safe from online phishing and malware thefts since most of their business algo traditionally existed offline. The primary reason that hackers started using such industries as a pool of novice targets was that they were new on the internet and hence, they lacked the proper knowledge about the internet safety techniques.
Some such industries that had to suddenly shift on the internet for survival are basically small-scale retailers and many education institutions that now rely on remote working. In fact, a lot of employers were forced to offer their workers the option of remote working which made the business extremely vulnerable because:
- Employees do not follow the same online safety protocols at home that they have to follow in the office.
- Employees end up using their company laptops’ for personal use that increases the chances of phishing attacks.
- If a single system gets compromised, it takes a lot of time to detect and communicate the attack to other employees. The added time increases the chances that other employees will open the same phishing email before the news can be circulated.
The vulnerability that all industries face is, thus, collectively, taking a huge toll on everybody who’s on the internet nowadays. Experts, in such a dramatically changing online landscape, suggest that everybody should take measures – discussed below – on their part if these threats like phishing and malware theft have to be reduced.
Online Security Measures to be Taken by Employers/Companies
When most of your employees are working remotely, you need to adopt the following techniques to double secure the sensitive info from hackers. It can be done in the following ways.
- Switch your employees to using MFA or 2FA for login authentication instead of using traditional passwords.
- Take IT measures to tail the activity that employees make on the company’s system.
- Impose strict rules that restrict the usage of work system(s) for personal use.
Most importantly, arrange for online seminars on web safety and security to educate your staff about the dangers of phishing and the ways to avoid them.
Online Security Measures to be Taken by Employees
Your personal safety is as much at stake as the security of your company if you suffer from malware attacks. So, do adopt all the security measures listed below.
- Never click on links that come from unauthenticated sources.
- Never share your password with anybody.
- Do not use unsecured public Wi-Fi.
- Use a firewall system and an authenticated antivirus software.
It’s only with these collective efforts that hackers will be able to do less damage than they can, and currently are, causing. So, play your part and discourage hacking as well as you can by adopting clean browsing habits.
