With more people working from home every day, you would think the number of cyberattacks would be rising exponentially. Surprisingly, cybersecurity threats are actually on the downturn, which shocked the cybersecurity industry, which predicted that the working from home boon would introduce the greatest opportunity for cybersecurity breaches, releasing a hacker’s paradise.
Cybersecurity concerns were not unfounded as cyberattacks did happen as phishing and data mining did compromise identities, bank accounts, passwords, but all in all, while cyberattacks increased, resulting cybercrime was reduced by half of what it was prior to the pandemic work-from-home explosion.
If that doesn’t make you scratch your cybersecurity noggin, I don’t know what does. It doesn’t seem to make sense. Right?
The fear of increased attacks has many cybersecurity specialists on high-alert. They knew in advance that this shift from the office to the home was going to be a challenge, so they prepared for the ensuing attacks. And when the attacks came in, they were waiting and ready to respond to any potential data breaches of security.
Cybersecurity is a team effort. It takes IT staff working a hand in hand with open lines of communication, sharing any irregularities noticed, even if it may seem to be an innocuous report at the time, and entire teams, down to line staff, also keeping an eye on activity and reporting anything suspicious.
When executive orders were issued to cell-in workers, allowing them to work while imprisoned in their homes, there was a mad shuffling of IT and networking staff, manning up to answer the call, with a massive proclamation, “Not on my watch!” They had to move and take action quickly, most only had a few days to put all their telecommuting security affairs in order.
No doubt, the cybercriminals were waiting with bated breath for this opportunity to attack an unsuspecting population that would be forced to telecommute, and not having any time to prepare was a vulnerability they couldn’t have imagined would be handed to them on a silver platter.
No one was prepared for the necessary emergent response, which required line staff to have virtual private networks (VPNs) ready to connect to systems remotely. This was the single largest drain on OT staff tasked with responding rapidly to the shift.
Not to forget, the cybersecurity staff was also ordered to work from home. Imagine, having to secure the entire network from your living room, kitchen, or bedroom. Yet, that is what is happening. They are in the same boat, working from home and making sure all is secure, while they are conducting regular training for line staff to learn more about what they can do on their end to help prevent cyberattacks while working remotely.
What could have been an embarrassing collapse of security around America, ended up being an impressive display of how a well prepared IT staff can respond to emergent needs in a heartbeat, to the surprise of hackers and cybercriminals (and maybe the IT staff, as well).
Statistics verify security response and efficacy by a 50% significant drop in cybercrime.
Good job, guys!