Small businesses have had to be more flexible than ever as they continue to navigate through the unchartered territory of the new “normal” of 2021. For years, leaders have been predicting that a pandemic will strike. Still, no one could foresee that the IT world would need to overhaul its entire operations overnight to initiate massive remote connectivity. As a result, many scheduled projects had to be placed on hold for IT staff to retool remote operations so businesses could keep running.
At the same time, cybercriminals have been working hard too. Research shows that there has been a dramatic rise in cybersecurity attacks in the past few months. Many cybersecurity experts said the attacks have become more focused, and numerous business owners have experienced at least one cyberattack during the past year.
Hackers have taken advantage of the anxiety and uneasiness related to the pandemic in their cyberattacks. Studies show that pandemic-related phishing and malware attacks have dramatically risen to over 30,000 per day throughout the U.S. Among the highest increase has been in ransomware attacks which have ballooned by a whopping 800 percent since Covid-19 began last March.
In 2021, cybersecurity leaders maintain the following three cybersecurity threats will likely have the most considerable negative effect on businesses:
- Accelerating Ransomware Attacks
There is a profound increase in ransomware in 2021, and experts predict that a business will fall victim to this malware attack every 11 seconds this year. This type of cyberattack can cause irreparable harm, as seen in the recent Colonial Pipeline attack, which caused gas shortages and cost millions of dollars to correct. The total cost of ransomware will cost close to $20 billion in the US alone.
2. Pandemic-related Phishing Scams and Other Email Hoaxes
Hackers will keep using the pandemic as a scare motif for their phishing email scams. Cyberattacks generally line up with real-time occurrences such as the announcement of a new vaccine or drug or an uptick in new infections. Their objective is to get unaware individuals to click on a dangerous link or attachment and get them to disclose confidential personal data. IT and cybersecurity experts have seen a dramatic rise in cyberattacks over the past year.
3. Increasing Threats Targeting User’s Communication Devices
During the pandemic, staff have begun working from home and are using communication devices that are not secure and are not monitored by the IT department. This increases the company’s vulnerability and allows attackers to breach the business network circumventing its security firewalls. In addition, this dramatically compromises the confidential company data maintained on these devices, exposing the data to increased corruption.
Kustura Technologies Offers State-of-the-Art Cyber Protection
Addressing these threats requires multi-faceted security solutions that incorporate 24/7 expert monitoring and network back-up, staff training, and awareness of cyber vulnerabilities and techniques to better protect your business from cyberattacks in 2021 and beyond.
