We all know that the current pandemic today, COVID-19, has forced us to embrace a whole new practice like social distancing and “work-at-home” or remote-working.
This made the government reconsider ways to make sure that the economy remains stable while all countries in the world are fighting the pandemic. But this hasn’t stopped another huge threat that lies beyond the current crisis today, and that is cybercrime.
Cybercriminals all over the world are using this opportunity to pose threats, cyber-attacks, and distortion online, completely capitalizing on this crisis.
Cybercrime rates are increasing each day.
While we’re entirely unaware of this situation, cybercrime rates were increasing each day. Attacks like phishing and ransomware attacks were already active by the time the COVID-19 pandemic spiked.
Cybercriminals are using COVID-19 as their gateway to bait people by impersonating brands and article-sites, luring in more people to their traps. These attacks are dangerous, for they can cause serious malware infection on your cellphones and computers.
Cybercriminals aren’t only going after Businesses! They are also after you!
Cyber attackers aren’t only targeting local and foreign businesses, for they’re also aiming at end-users, like you, who are downloading COVID-19 related applications, which can also trigger dangerous ransomware attacks on your device.
What they do is they disguise ransomware to look like legitimate applications, trapping different end-users each day. You might not notice it, but each and every download you make online, especially COVID-19 related applications, might already be one of their traps!
So, please be vigilant and make sure that you’re downloading from the right sources.
There’s also an Increase in Security Risk from Remote Working/Learning
Because of the recent pandemic, remote-working and online classes are required for working individuals and students to partake.
Since employees and students are using the virtual platform to continue work and studying, enterprise virtual private networks or (VPN) servers have now become a new gateway or lifeline for most companies and schools.
Cybersecurity for these entities should be tightened from time to time since this is another target of Cybercriminals. There’s a considerable possibility of a security breach due to the unpreparedness of most organizations in times like these.
The risk is the loss of sensitive information, which is also heightened due to the fact that some users may utilize personal computers for work or school, which could also pose a significant threat or risk.
Bottom Line
Cybercriminals will do whatever they can to gain access to any sensitive information given by huge corporations, businesses, and organizations, which is why cybersecurity should always be tightened.
This is an essential factor that we should always consider when we use computers or by the time we gain access to the internet.
Applying strong cybersecurity measures should always be your number one go-to before doing something important online. This doesn’t only apply to you as an individual, but also for big corporations who are very much at risk.
Most importantly, this matter should be treated seriously, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, where we should always tread carefully on what we do online.
