Cybersecurity and the Corona Virus

Those with evil intent often take advantage of crisis situations to exploit those who are vulnerable. With our current virus pandemic, many people are anxious and grab at straws for information. We have seen an uptick in phishing scams in hard hit countries like Italy, Japan, and South Korea, and the issue is spreading quickly across the globe. As in ‘normal’ times, the rules should be the same…think before opening a bogus email or clicking on a link.

Aside from phishing schemes, the increase in individuals teleworking from home is also causing a problem. Organizations might have sophisticated security for their digital systems, but the sudden influx of employees connecting to the system from home with personal computers greatly increases the vulnerabilities.

We will eventually see this crisis come to pass, but in the meantime we need to be ever vigilant against those nefarious individuals with prey on the vulnerable.

About the author: Dr. Jane LeClair is the President of the Washington Center for Cybersecurity Research & Development and former COO of the National Cybersecurity Institute.