WORKING FROM HOME: CYBERSECURITY IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

Abstract

Technology and industry experts are warning businesses and individuals against the increasing threat of worldwide cyber-attacks. According to the FBI, the number of successful attacks skyrocketed across the U.S. by 600% (Inglet, 2020) and across the globe by 300% (FBI IC3 Report, April 2020) since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This great increase in successful attacks is directly attributed to the number of people working remotely or telecommuting due to the invisible threat of COVID-19. Once again, people are exposed as the weakest link in organizations by opening attachments; having greater data access or more administrator rights than required; downloading sensitive information onto thumb drives; forwarding work emails to personal accounts; or sharing documents they should not. Our research focuses on the cybersecurity issues of employees working-from-home and the constant struggle to secure confidential business and personally identifiable information outside of a proper office environment. Therefore, this paper explores the cyber risks and rewards to businesses and individuals when employees work from home and further offers recommendations to curb and mitigate these nefarious cyber influences upon teleworkers and their organizations.