A year ago — everything changed. In an effort to stem the tide of a rapidly spreading pandemic, the world shut down. Shops were forced to shut their doors, and whole countries were placed on stringent lockdowns. Schools were closed around the world, with more than
one billion children affected, and the vast majority of companies had to switch to
remote work, sometimes with only a week’s notice. As life for large swaths of the population moved entirely online, the cybercriminals were ready.
In fact, not only did the way people lived and worked changed, but so did the methods and tactics used by criminals on the Internet looking to exploit the massive increase in online traffic.
With the approval of several vaccines against the coronavirus, a post-pandemic future is finally in sight. However, there is still a long way to go before life returns to normal, and some changes, such as remote work, look like they are here to stay — as do the new cyber threats that emerged alongside these shifts.
On the anniversary of the global shutdown, Kaspersky experts decided to take a look back at how the threat landscape has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic — and what that means for users in the years to come.
Lessons learned
Peoples’ lives have become increasingly digital for years, and this is a trend that is likely to continue. It is still unclear when travel will get back to normal and with remote work staying in the picture, videoconferencing and meeting apps will continue to be in high demand. Of course, the more time users spend online, the more vulnerable they are to security risks.
While the pandemic may be heading into its final phases, there are still new topics for phishers and scammers to exploit, like health passports for travel or vaccine distribution, and chances are they will exploit them. It is important that users view any email or website referencing the pandemic with a skeptical eye. What is more, recent events have shown how willing criminals are to take advantage of crisis, and, while this pandemic will subside, it certainly will not be the last crisis.
With many organizations already stating that they will continue to make remote work an option and/or adopt a hybrid model, RDP is not going anywhere — and neither are attacks against the protocol. That means businesses need to reevaluate their usage of RDP and learn how to secure remote access.
If there is has ever been a time for companies to reevaluate and bolster their security strategy, that time is now.
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