May Cortez-Beatty

Professor Brielle Buckler

Bus 311-1900

November 18, 2020

Unit 10 Assignment: Risk Management

One of the key risks experienced by companies in 2020 is the increased risk of cyber-attacks. Although cyber security has been a concern for many organizations over the years, during the Corona virus crisis, the risks of experiencing a cyber-attack significantly increased for many companies. After the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, a quarantine was announced forcing people to remain at their homes. As a result, many companies and organizations moved their employees to home offices and expected them to work from home. As a new way of working and delivering value to their organizations, employees working remotely from home for the first time are unaware that they are operating from insecure networks and devices that are easy targets for hackers. Thus, company have been experiencing and witnessing an increased number of cyber-attacks during the pandemic than ever before. When this happens, companies are not only concerned about the safety of their employee personal data but also information security of the company. In fact, cyber criminals have been trying to exploit the heightened levels of concern due to Covid-19 by promoting misinformation and using personal data to exploit innocent people. As such, this cyber security concern poses the risks for organizations, employees, and customer as their data can easily be put at risk.

Since many organizations had to transition to remote without any prior training on cyber security, the risks of successful attacks and losses became high especially due to the current increase in cybercriminal activities. Therefore, it is vital for companies to focus on these new risks of cyber-attacks in order to secure their information, employees, and customers’personal data. Some companies and organizations value discretion and strive to protect client and customer information from outsiders such as cybercriminals that may exploit such information for financial gain. In fact, the World Health Organization recently reported a five times increase in cyber-attacks against organizations during the pandemic compared to previous years.

In order to enhance cyber security and curb the risks of cyber-attacks, organizations ought to take various precautions. For instance, organizations should secure work from home arrangements at scale. The widespread adoption of work-from-home equipment has put significant pressure on cyber security teams in organizations to protect these tools without making it difficult for employees to work. Therefore, organizations should making changes in different areas such as people, technology, and processes to ensure better cyber security. Moreover, organizations must increase awareness of cyber security among their teams such as phishing scams and social engineering. Although many employees have been taking these cyber security concerns less serious prior to working remotely and before the pandemic, however, it is now imperative that everyone remain vigilant and informed. Furthermore, organizations must use the right technological measures to ensure higher levels of both productivity and cyber security when working from home. Expediting patching for high priority systems is crucial for employees working from home and this will help companies minimize vulnerabilities once they are detected. Examples of such critical systems include cloud interfaces and end-point protection.

The elevated risks of cyber-attacks make work uncomfortable and reduce the willingness and interest to work at an organization. Employees are afraid of being exploited by cyber criminals and their personal data could be exploited as well. Thus, in the face of this new challenge of cyber-attacks, working for organizations that are more vulnerable is becoming difficult.