This is absolutely true and the key thing is to remind everyone to always report anything suspicious or if you think you may have made a mistake. Cyber attacks are very clever and sophisticated and anyone can make mistakes, we’ve done it ourselves.

IMPORTANT – The quicker we know the quicker we can mitigate the risk or potential damage.

Due to the restrictions that the British Government has imposed amid the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), many clients are requiring or permitting employees to work remotely. This email is intended to remind all of our clients and your employees that in the haste to implement widespread work-from-home strategies, data security concerns cannot be forgotten.

All employees should remain vigilant of increased cybersecurity threats, some of which specifically target remote access strategies. Unfortunately, cybercriminals will not be curtailing their efforts to access valuable data during the outbreak, and in fact, will likely take advantage of some of the confusion and communication issues that might arise under the circumstances to perpetrate their schemes.

Employees working from home may be accessing or transmitting company data as well as personal information of individuals. Inappropriate exposure of either type of data can lead to significant adverse consequences for a company. Exposure of company data or confidential business information can potentially cause significant business damage or loss. Exposure of personal information can potentially trigger data breach notification law and result in significant liabilities for a company as well as expanded identity theft issues for individuals.

Increased Risk with Personal Devices

Employees working from home may take shortcuts, such as downloading or saving sensitive company materials to their personal devices, desktops, USB drives, hard drives and file hosting services in the cloud (e.g., Dropbox). I would like to advise all clients and their employees that saving company materials to personal devices that have not been appropriately configured with security systems (e.g., company-sanctioned level of anti-virus software, password protection technologies, or secure network connections) increases the risk of exposure to cybercriminals.

Coronavirus-related Phishing Attempts

You are likely to receive an increased number of phishing emails as more and more users are working from home. All employees should recognise that phishing emails disguised as coronavirus updates or as updated company policies may deceive. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) specifically warned that, in connection with COVID-19, cybercriminals are sending phishing emails with malicious links and are impersonating WHO officials to steal money and sensitive information.

Many companies already include warning banners on emails that originate outside of the company but ensuring that such banners continue to attach to email addresses outside the company will help employees parse out which coronavirus updates are legitimate.

Off-Network Communications

With more employees working from home, groups and teams will become increasingly reliant on phone, email, and instant messaging communication systems instead of in-person meetings. Businesses should ensure that their email and messaging systems remain encrypted and secured. Additionally, some employees may be tempted to communicate outside of normal company communication systems, such as text messaging on personal devices or private chatting on social media. Communicating on platforms outside of the company wide security systems poses a far greater security risk than communications on company platforms. Businesses should remind employees of these risks and should encourage employees to use good judgment about when, where, and how they discuss work-related matters.

So remember….

Always report anything suspicious or if you think you may have made a mistake. Cyber attacks are very clever and sophisticated and anyone can make mistakes.

“The cyber risk is higher now more than ever, please do not ignore the risk”

IMPORTANT – The quicker we know the quicker we can mitigate the risk or potential damage.

Also check out MSE – Money Saving Expert (Martin Lewis) latest scam list https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2020/04/coronavirus-scams-protect-yourself/