How Hackers Are More a Threat as More People Work From Home

Working from home has grown considerably more prevalent globally since the outbreak of covid-19. With the possibility of normality returning to our lives, many experts anticipate that remote working will stay popular even after the pandemic ends. With this new way of remote working, we see how these new developments work well, allowing employees to work and be productive from anywhere without having to deal with the long commutes or a noisy workplace. Businesses have benefited from this new way of working, which has allowed them to create organizations that are more flexible, productive, and even more accessible. However, this also poses new risks and threats to businesses and organizations.

The Risks of Working from Home

A traditional office setting has a built-in defense against most cyberattacks. Considering that more and more people are working from home, most often on their own laptops or other devices, and no office context to contend with, threats like phishing and ransomware are more likely to evade the usual corporate defenses. Hackers can also obtain private information from remote worker's personal devices, including information about their HIPPA reports; social security number; tax information; and bank accounts. This doesn’t just affect the person being attacked but also the people they work with, colleagues and clients alike. As we see even well-known companies having extremely large scaled security breaches, this suggests that not only are there more breaches, but that they’re becoming more severe. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), public data breaches from the end of last year has already exceeded those for 2020, making 2021 a record year for data breaches. In addition, cybercrime has increased more than 600% since the pandemic started and experts don’t believe it will slow down anytime soon. CEO of Kaseya, an IT software management company, Fred Voccola states, “comprehensive and frequent cybersecurity training can no longer be considered a ‘nice to have’ for businesses—it’s now absolutely crucial for organizations that are facing an ever-evolving array of cybersecurity threats in the current work-from-home environment. In addition to training employees to spot phishing emails, organizations really need to invest in a robust, integrated suite of cybersecurity solutions that prevent, detect and mitigate ransomware and other cybersecurity threats.”

Hacking Stats for 2021:

• Cybercrime costs the world more than $1 trillion each year. (IBM)

• Remote workers are even more of a target for many cyber criminals today. (IBM)

• 95% of all cybersecurity and hacking breaches are caused by human error. (IBM)

• The average cost of a hack for each company is around $4.24 million. (IBM)

• The average time to identify a breach in 2021 was around 207 days. (IBM)

Helpful Tips for Working from Home Effectively:

• Maintain regular updates/patches on computers; your IT department should lead the way with informative emails weekly.

• Use multi-factor authentication, whenever possible.

• Maintain training and awareness of phishing and security for you and all your employees.

• Employees should be encouraged to report mistakes or suspect something is wrong as soon as possible. Creating an environment for this to be present is crucial.

Final Verdict:

The increasing rise of remote and hybrid workforces in the recent years, has resulted in workplaces undergoing significant transformations, which has also increased the risks to companies, and in particular, their employees. To stay ahead of this trend, businesses and organizations must be vigilant in addressing the growing dangers of hackers targeting their business and employees, which is ultimately at the foundation of both cybersecurity breaches and insider threats.

Companies may handle both of these important challenges at the same time by upgrading their technology and using continuous monitoring to keep an eye on employee behavior as they move towards the future of the workplace.

Want more help?

YGH Tech offers security monitoring services to assist you in safeguarding your private information and strengthening your network security. We do this by continually checking in on you and/or your company’s security posture. Click here to contact us for more questions or concerns.