COVID-19 has affected the global cyber risk environment in different ways. In remote working environments, it has caused an explosion and more dependency on cloud-based technology than ever before, both of which have increased cyber-related exposures for almost every organization. The coronavirus epidemic has led to an increased prevalence of social engineering at a more individual level as threatening actors attempt to capitalize on pandemic concerns, while at the same time posing new privacy and access to personal information problems.
When the attention of the world was concentrated on the public health crisis and adapted to the “new normal” of COVID-19, cyber criminals took their chances to pounce. During the pandemic, there was a spike in phishing scams – fraudulent emails intended to make the victim either directly wire funds or open a URL/attachment that installs malicious software on the computer of the victim.
