Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 41 | Page 37

EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

The COVID-19 crisis has proved that nothing can stop a cybercriminal in their tracks – not even a pandemic . Businesses of all sizes have suffered cyberattacks over the past 12 months and even large enterprises like energy company Npower , and huge global organisations like Facebook have been victims of hackers exposing users ’ data in 2021 .

Cybercriminals have also been actively exploiting people ’ s concerns around COVID-19 . For example , there have been a wealth of phishing scams where attackers have posed as the World Health Organisation ( WHO ), pretending to give advice or circulating fake medical updates in order to get victims to click on bogus links .
leading to increasing numbers of data breaches for UK companies , risking not just reputation but also causing serious financial consequences . Education around security for all employees is key .
As well as cybersecurity training for employees , in order to be fully prepared for the next crisis , business leaders need to adopt genuinely robust , but flexible , security measures such as SASE – Secure Access Service Edge . In the new era of hybrid working , security needs to span on-premises and the cloud , protecting every corner of the decentralised network while providing the flexibility for employees to work as freely and securely as they can under the protection of the traditional , centralised corporate network .
This has all been made worse by people working from home , often on corporate devices , while away from corporate networks and colleagues who they can quickly ask if an email link seems a bit suspect .
What business leaders can learn from this is people living through uncertainty have a disproportionate amount of questions and concerns which attackers will only play on . As such , businesses leaders should engage with their employees , helping to manage their concerns . In a crisis , a safety-first mindset should be projected across the whole company – driven by C-level executives and filtering down to everyone – which can make an employee stop for that split second before they click on a phishing link .
SASE effectively brings together all the most important security elements , such as SD-WAN , SWG , CASB , ZTNA and FWaaS , into one solution so that businesses possess the capability to truly secure data and networks from leaks and attacks as networks expand . With functions hosted in the cloud rather than
In order to be fully prepared for the next crisis , business leaders need to adopt genuinely robust , but flexible , security measures such as SASE .
When it comes to remote working , the personal and professional became more intertwined than ever before – one danger of this is people are likely to be using passwords across personal and business applications as there isn ' t an obvious mental barrier , like going into and leaving an office is .
Worryingly , despite the fact the UK has been working remotely for over a year , one in five home workers have received no training on cybersecurity which is at the network edge , it can scale as needed with all the necessary rules set centrally to ensure businesses remain in control . This is critical , because if the past 12 months have taught businesses leaders anything , it ’ s that cybersecurity must be flexible to allow for a suddenly remote workforce , without restricting employees from doing their jobs . p
JOHN VESTBERG , CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF CLAVISTER
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