With so many people working from home due to stay-at-home orders resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, IT security may not be at the forefront of users’ minds. Unfortunately, scammers and hackers aren’t unemployed during this time and are still causing havoc for businesses of all sizes. Let’s take a look at cybersecurity during COVID-19.

Attacking Businesses During COVID-19

The deadly novel coronavirus is still in the forefront of most people’s thoughts, and as a result, many people remain home. With so many people kept from going out, people are relying on the Internet. Some businesses have shifted to remote, some haven’t but rely on online orders and support, and many others are effectively out of work, putting a lot of people online at once. 

For scammers and hackers, this is an ideal situation. They have taken this opportunity to set up spoofed websites that are designed specifically to get people to let their guard down enough so they can gain access to their accounts, including their business’ accounts.

Unfortunately, this has become extremely common.  Of the 1.2 million new COVID-19-related domains that have been built during the time spanning March 9-to-April 26 nearly 86,600 malicious websites have been created. 80 percent of those distribute malware if interacted with. 

An incredible amount of COVID-19 spam and phishing messages have also appeared. Some fraudulent email campaigns have claimed to come from the IRS, the CDC, healthcare organizations, and other companies. 

Protecting Your Business from Scams

What are you to do with so many obvious (and some not-so-obvious) scams? 

You need to stay vigilant and remember that even though you are at home, on your home computer, that you need to function like you are on your workstation in the office. All the best practices you’ve been trained on in the office apply now and should be maintained. They include:

• Watch out for phishing - Whether it’s through email, messaging, or social media, keeping a skeptical eye out for phishing emails and spoofed websites will go far in keeping your business secure.
• Use strong passwords - Managing your passwords and keeping them up-to-date with the latest security best practices can go a long way toward securing your business.
• Keep data backed up and safe - Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean that your data is any less important. Keep it backed up and secured with antivirus and a comprehensive firewall. 

The IT professionals at Compudata have the experience needed to keep your business’ network secure during these hard times. Call us today at 1-855-405-8889 to learn more.