With COVID-19 seemingly changing the world we live in forever, there are many adjustments that organizations need to make in order to adapt to the new world. Some of the obvious new norms that organizations are implementing include increasing the physical distance between employees’ desks in the office and staggering schedules to minimize the number of people in the office at any one time. For those who like their personal space, these changes sound only too ideal.
But what about the non-health-related risks? Yes, COVID-19 is not only posing a risk to your physical wellbeing, but also to your organization’s cybersecurity. The worldwide pandemic has caused almost all enterprises to temporarily close their doors, if not permanently. For many this has meant introducing, or further implementing, Work from Home (WFH) policies. The concept of working from home might sound idyllic – waking up later, staying in your pajamas all day, working in bed (nope, just me?) and, importantly, often using your own device to connect to the company’s network.
However, this last “perk” is not as positive as it may seem. With more device access to the organization’s network comes greater chances of a cyberattack taking place and, in this instance, we are talking about hardware attacks. These perilous attacks are given less attention yet present an alarming risk to the security of an enterprise. As a result, CISOs will need to plan and put in place policies to provide protection for these new risks.