Cyber Security amid COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic obliged thousands of companies pertaining to all economic sectors to undergo the transformation from on-board work to working from home. Along such rush, the probability for companies being hacked incremented many folds. According to VMware cybersecurity strategist Tom Kellermann, quoted in Menn (2020), “There is a digitally historic event occurring in the background of this pandemic, and that is there is a cybercrime pandemic that is occurring” (para 5). In fact, Software and security company VMware Carbon Black declared during April, “that ransomware attacks it monitored jumped 148% in March from the previous month, as governments worldwide curbed movement to slow the spread of the novel corona virus” (Para 4). On the other hand, Anft (2020) reported that “more than 500 educational institutions, including colleges and K-12 schools, faced ransom attacks in 2019” (para 2). This paper uses a descriptive qualitative approach to shed light on the aforementioned subject depending on reported secondary literature about the topic, and offers an analysis to pinpoint weaknesses and barriers, as well as best practices to counterattack the breaches to cybersecurity in organizations. The outcomes serve as an eye opener for security officers in charge of the safety of organizational intellectual properties and stimulates organizations to adopt protection systems and safety practices.