The disruption of the working environment by the spread of coronavirus is compromising cybersecurity protocols set by companies.
When the lockdown restrictions were put in place, companies were advised to let their employees work from home. With limited time and resources to migrate from working on a secure network to using unsecured home internet, this might have compromised the security of these companies.
Cybersecurity compromise
However, the impact of cybersecurity compromises is yet to be felt, at least on a large scale. This is because fighting hackers is not on anybody’s mind right now, as the world continues to fight coronavirus. The virus has ripped open every virtual defense protocol meant to address cybersecurity.
What can we expect?
Stephen McBride, a Forbes contributor has boldly stated that the largest cyber attack in history will happen in six months. He argues that the coronavirus has shredded the network security for most companies. Extending networks to home require a shift in security infrastructure, which many companies have not implemented.
Although the cyber attack prediction sounds absurd at first, his arguments are concrete. Globally, hundreds of millions of workers are now using their personal laptops to access files in company networks.
This is a dream for hackers who only need a point of entry to penetrate through network security and cause harm. Now with massive exposure, hackers are working around the clock to compromise the security of large companies and organizations.
Recent hacks
In the last few weeks, hacking of the World Health Organization and the US Department of Health has alerted the world on what these attacks will consist, and awakened governments and organization to the threat of cyber attacks.
If Stephen McBride is right and in six months the world will have its largest cybersecurity compromise in history, then that will lead to exposure of many highly classified files into the hands of unauthorized players. Ramsons and blackmails will increase, and the hacking will have financial consequences for many companies and people, especially those dealing with banking data.
On the other hand, stocks for cybersecurity firms will see a major significant bump, if past experience is anything to go by. When Iran was attacked, there was anticipation they would retaliate with cyberattacks, these saw cybersecurity firms stock price jump up to 30 percent in less than 6 weeks.
This was also the case when in February 2015, US health insurer Anthem exposing records of more than 80 million customers. The stock prices of cybersecurity firms rallied in the next four months, reaching highs of over 30 percent during that duration.
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