Siddharth Gandhi
The coronavirus is having a major global impact, infecting tens of thousands, with increasing fatalities. We can debate whether or not the media and politicians are over-playing it. But the fact is, it should have us all concerned, prepared, and taking appropriate action to protect our businesses.
More companies are choosing to not attend in-person conferences and meetings, and instead, are going online to events and engagements. Companies have increased access to hand sanitizers, are allowing more employees to work from home, and in some cases have chosen to close down for a few weeks with all employees working from home. Further, companies are revising travel policies and limiting certain types of business travel.
Business security is not immune to coronavirus
In addition to public health challenges, coronavirus presents many issues for businesses. Not the least of which has to do with cybersecurity. With all the changes and disruptions caused by coronavirus, companies need to stay focused on their cybersecurity policies and access controls, that protect corporate, employee and customer data.
During times like this, rather than traveling, more employees are using videoconferencing, and working from home, instead of in the office. These, and other factors, add to the number of potential attack vectors, that can allow attackers unauthorized access to computers and networks to exploit system vulnerabilities. Additionally, it’s important to stay focused on maintaining PCI compliance during this time of interim change.
Everyone should take responsibility for good personal health hygiene practices. And at a time when there is a major domestic and global health challenge, every business must ensure their cybersecurity hygiene isn’t undone by distractions and changes.
Good cybersecurity hygiene concerns the identification, prioritization, and response in mitigating risks and improving the overall effectiveness of your systems. As with personal hygiene, cybersecurity hygiene is the responsibility of all employees, not just the security and IT teams. All employees need to follow appropriate password policies, using strong passwords that are kept private. IT must know what and where all their assets are, and ascertain security protections based on today’s business environment that may have changed, with new travel policies, and employee work locations.
Stay in control of your digital assets
The cyber threat landscape is dynamic and always changing. You can bet, hackers will try to take advantage of businesses that are adjusting to new policies and procedures put in place because of coronavirus. During this time, security and IT teams must take extra precautions and be vigilant. They must continue to ensure business systems, applications, devices, and data, are secured with the proper controls.
To mitigate risk, these teams must have complete visibility into who is doing what within their organization. As companies are faced with new challenges, like coronavirus, giving the right people the right access to your business resources and assets becomes more demanding, yet remains a high priority.
