Swindon & Wiltshire News
Business owners warned to be vigilant as cybercrime rockets through pandemic
Company owners need to be extra vigilant as the true extent of cybercrime in 2020 emerges.
The warning comes from IT specialist Chris Goodchild of Swindon-based SupportWise IT Services.
Although annual figures are still not available, Interpol estimates a huge rise in cyber security threats on businesses and individuals over the last 12 months.
“Between January 2020 and April 2020, there were an estimated 900,000 scam messages, 700 malware attacks and 78,000 malicious domains were found according to Interpol – and those are just those which mentioned Covid19 or coronavirus,” Chris said.
“This period of time has been ripe for scammers, hackers and criminals to capitalise on our increased reliance on tech. These people have come a long way since the first recorded cyber attack back in 1988.”
In the last few weeks there have been attacks on Hackney Borough Council, Sopra Steria and Manchester United Football Club.
Since the beginning of 2020, it’s estimated there have been more than 445 million cyberattacks reported, which is double the number in 2019.
Phishing attempts rose 600 percent since end of February and attacks targeting home workers rose five-fold in the six weeks since the first lockdown.
With business owners having to change their IT systems and, in some cases, rely on employees to use company tech safely at home, the risks and crimes are greater than ever.
Chris advises:
- Phishing emails – don’t open emails from people you don’t know, and never open unknown attachments or links. Check that the email address in the browser matches the company it comes from. If in doubt contact your IT provider, don’t chance it and don’t let your team chance it.
- Weak login passwords – 81 percent of adults use the same password for everything. Cyber criminals have programs that search for these password combinations. Use unique passwords.
- Opt for multi-factor authentication – passwords are a necessity, but aren’t always enough to guarantee security, it may take a little time to do this yet it will be as nothing to the impact of a cyber attack.
- Consider who has access to what – compartmentalise data, and ensure it isn’t accessible by everyone. The number of people who have access, increases the number of people who can mishandle information.
- Train your teams – just 29 percent of staff received cyber security training in 2019, compared to 81 percent of directors or senior management. All staff need to be trained now more than ever.
- Update antivirus software – everyone in any company should be expected to update the latest antivirus software, whether they are working in the office or at home.
- Data security policies – policies for this should not be a tick box exercise and it could be, in the future, that it could even be part of an employment contract to be up to speed on them. This is the resource your staff can turn to when they don’t know what to do next and something goes wrong.
