After the challenging year of 2020, it’s safe to say we have all learned a lot. As far as businesses go, the neglect of cybersecurity has been crippling to organisations of all sizes worldwide. In the last year we saw a 600% increase in cybercrime. This did not go unnoticed; many well-known enterprises were in the news due to various malicious cyber-attacks, such as EasyJet and SolarWinds. When SolarWinds was hacked, cybercriminals were enabled access to potentially thousands of users which disrupted their entire network and caused severe damage.
Let’s take what we learned from 2020 and prepare for the predicted 2021 cyber-trends so that your business can avoid cyber-attacks and formulate a robust cybersecurity strategy.
Lockdown or not, working from home is here to stay. More and more businesses are adopting a hybrid approach – half office-based and half remote. This enables workers and companies to be more flexible; but it also brings cybercrime home. Home networks and personal devices do not have the same security benefits as office equipment. Therefore, cyber-attacks will be aimed at these more vulnerable networks and devices to infiltrate a business and access confidential information.
Although we do not want to believe anyone in our workforce is a threat, a cyber-attack can be both accidental and intentional. If your team is not cybersecurity trained and do not know how to spot phishing emails and other forms of attacks, then they are an easy target who may let a cybercriminal in unknowingly. Additionally, by giving your workforce unprecedented access to your entire database, the wrong information can end up in the wrong hands. Ensure you provide limited access to employees; they only need to access data specific to their job.
Cloud computing has boomed in popularity, primarily due to its ability to help remote workforces access all the files and data needed to carry out their job on any device in any location. Unfortunately, this means that cyber-attacks will evolve alongside cloud technology and become more sophisticated to attack a business’s cloud environment. Therefore, the need for robust cloud security is going to be in high demand.
Ransomware is considered the worst cyber-threat of all. During the whole of 2020, it is estimated that over $1 billion in financial damage was caused by ransomware globally. And the threat of ransomware is not disappearing overnight, and antivirus software is no longer enough to keep cybercriminals at bay! The damage caused by ransomware can cripple businesses beyond repair, meaning there is a sense of urgency to invest in a far better cybersecurity strategy.
Many have been exposed to the fact that their confidential information stored on the internet is not private through the surge in cyber-attacks in 2020. With most data now stored on the cloud, keeping information private will be a struggle without the correct measures to decrease this vulnerability. Consumers are learning to become savvier about privacy, and so the demand for it will increase in 2021.
These trends highlight the need for more robust, more secure and more resourceful cybersecurity strategies. If organisations want to make it through 2021 as protected as possible from cybercrime, they must invest in cybersecurity solutions.
Fortunately, our cybersecurity experts at Landmark can help set you on the right path to becoming cyber-secure and give you all the help and advice you need to stay safe through 2021.
