There is no question that COVID-19 has changed the way we do business. While some of these changes are temporary, many others will likely stick around once the pandemic is over. With a little help from a survey conducted from Microsoft, below are 5 ways the future of cyber security is changing.
Digital Empathy or Inclusive End User Experience
Many organizations were forced to consider remote work models once COVID-19 hit with full force. Overnight, security teams were busy scaling Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to accommodate the upsurge in remote workers. “Companies were reminded that security technology is fundamentally about improving productivity and collaboration through inclusive end-user experiences.” Secure cloud computing and a wider adoption of Multifactor authentication will also help lead your organization to greater digital empathy.
Zero Trust
While once thought of as a “nice to have” Zero Trust is now high on the priority list for most businesses. With the growth in remote work, plus the uptick in cyber crime, it is no wonder that 51% of business leaders told Microsoft that they are speeding up the deployment of Zero Trust capabilities. If you aren’t thinking about moving to Zero Trust, you should consider it. Microsoft expects Zero Trust to become the new industry standard.
Diverse Datasets for Improved Threat Intelligence
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has become a breeding ground for phishing scams, skimming attacks and a host of other cyber attacks looking to exploit the situation. To cut through all the cyber security threats, Microsoft says it has used a number of diverse tools to track over 8 trillion threats daily. A mix of different cloud tools, and utilizing both human insights and automated tools, will be the future of improved threat intelligence
Cyber Resiliency as a Business Fundamental
It has been said that 60% of SMB will go out of business within 6 months of a cyber attack. Cyber resiliency has always important, however, with the shift to work-from-home, businesses need to regularly evaluate their risk threshold and ability to execute cyber resilience processes through a combination of human efforts and technology products and services. In other words, if you don’t have some sort of cyber breach response plan, you are going to be in trouble. Check out Uzado’s Breach Readiness as a Service (BRaaS) for more information on how you can become more cyber resilient.
Cloud will Become Crucial to Cyber Security
Cyber security isn’t something to just be added to existing infrastructure. What COVID-19 showed businesses is that cyber security needs to be integrated for companies of all sizes. Microsoft’s study showed that successful phishing attacks were significantly higher from organisations that described their resources as mostly on-premises (36%) as opposed to being more cloud-based. As a result, 40% of the organizations that were survey said they were prioritising investments in cloud security to reduce the risk of breaches. If you are using cloud services, make sure you are taking full advantage of any security offerings that come with those cloud services. Always ensure you know who is responsible for your cloud services.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed the way we do business and will continue to do business. If you are a business struggling with these 5 changes, please contact Uzado today. Uzado are cyber security experts helping businesses like yours navigate the pandemic.
