COVID-19: Impact

on the Cyber
Security
Threat Landscape
COVID-19: Impact
on the Cyber
Security
Threat Landscape
COVID- 19: Impact on the cyber security

Abstract. Society as we
Abstract. Society as

know it is experiencing one of

the worst pan-
Abstract.

Society as we know it is experiencing one of the worst pandemics of this

century.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact in the world and has
grinded several countries to a standstill already. During these times cyber
security is of even more importance, as the environment is just right for
cyber criminals to strike. This paper
examines the cyber security threat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The
paper takes a snapshot in time as to where we are now, and how has
COVID-19 impacted the cyber security threat landscape so far. Society has
seen a massive increase on the front of cyber security attacks during this
pandemic and this paper aims to investigate this. This paper provides all
the current trends of cyber security attacks during this pandemic and how
the attacks have changed between different pandemics. The impact of
COVID-19 on society, from a cyber security threat landscape perspective
is also provided and a discussion on why cyber security education is still of
utmost importance. Education, as always, seems to be the number one
means on how to prevent cyber security threats.

Introduction.

Background of the study

Cyber Security Threat

Landscape
In a world where panic is rife and the need to feel informed, it provides
cyber
criminals a massive platform of unsuspecting victims. Social engineering
is at its
peak in this time as it prey’s on individuals whom are at a heightened
emotional
state. Social engineering is defined as “the science of using social
interaction
as a means to persuade an individual or an organisation to comply with a
specific
request from an attacker where either the social interaction, the
persuasion or
the request involves a computer-related entity”.
As clearly stated by various authors, the human element is the ‘glitch’
or vulnerable element within security systems. Unfortunately it is the
basic
‘good’ characteristics of human nature that make people vulnerable to the
techniques used by social engineers, as the latter exploit various
psychological vulnerabilities to manipulate the individual to disclose the
requested information.
In these coming days, most organisations will and have already requested
their workforce to work from home where possible. This has caused
people to become fully reliant on technology for both communication,
news, entertainment and social interaction. According to the authors, the
main contribution to the increase in the cyber security threat landscape is
there mere fact that:
1. Society has a heightened dependency on digital infrastructure;
2. Working from home has not been fully trailed by all organisations
before;
3. The massive reliance on the online connectivity and network
infrastructure
of every country;
4. The curious nature of the human psyche, especially in times of
uncertainty;
5. Society is spending most of their time consuming online services, which
in
turn could lead to riskier behaviour;
6. Individuals whom are not necessarily ‘tech savvy’ have to suddenly
become
accustomed to using technology for their daily lives.
All of these factors have caused a massive influx in the presence of cyber
attacks. Some of the typical cyber attacks , have also moved over to the
physical
realm where criminals are using social engineering techniques to infiltrate
people’s houses.

Hence, an ideal secure instant messaging would allow colleagues to efficiently

and securely communicate and work together. This addresses the strong
increase in use of messaging over the last few days with users equipping
themselves with trustworthy solutions for secure communication.

In the current scenario, individuals as well as enterprises should focus on the

followings to keep themselves cyber-secured while making use of work from
home model to the advantage of business continuity:

Favoring trusted channels for getting information – As regards the obligation

to monitor information on sensitive topics, it is advised to inform oneself only
through trusted channels.

Restricting the number of channels and guarding against sensationalism –

Reduce the number of information channels and say no to sensationalism.

Check facts – In such scenarios, falsehoods often win over facts. As

mentioned above, favoring selected trusted channels can be helpful. A good
way to establish facts is to cross-reference information across trusted
channels to reduce uncertainty.

Combining detection tools with cyber threat intelligence to protect systems –

The use of tools such as IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems) enriched with the
information provided by cyber threat intelligence allows the detection of
attacks, thus significantly reducing potential damage.

Make use of available tools like Encryption, Multi-factor authentication (like

OTP, digital signatures, biometric), VPN among others. Solutions such as
SafeNet Trusted Access can be deployed by CISOs, IT security teams to
secure remote access for VPN users and cloud services such as Office 365,
Salesforce or other virtual environments, with single sign-on and scenario-
based access policies.

Prioritize and only use company provided IT tools which come with adapted
levels of security. Employees working from home should also desist from
introducing USBs or other external devices from unknown sources to their IT
ecosystems.

Refresher courses on information security so that employees are reminded of

the various concepts that they need to keep in mind while working remotely

The ongoing pandemic is also an opportunity for organisations to assess their

IT infrastructure and, if required look at deploying robust and advanced cyber
security solutions. This will secure organisations and their workers from ever
increasing cyber-attacks and potential cyber-threats in case of remote access/
work from home/ shadow IT risks by employees.
 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A questionnaire was used to gather the data pertaining to identify the cyber
security threat during the COVID 19 pandemic in information technology
sector.
All the items are designed with categorical Likert scale using five categories.
The five categories are strongly Agree, agree, don’t know, disagree and strongly
disagree. Strongly agree or agree is measured as respondents’ agreement with
the particular statement while strongly disagree or disagree is reflected as
respondents’ disagreement with a particular statement.

A sample of 108 people participated voluntarily in this study.

The researcher used online method to collect the data from the
respondents to increase the response rate. The whole study
was completed in a week.
The questionnaires were send through online mode and
received within this period. Statistical package for the social
sciences version 22 was used for data analysis. The findings of
the study are presented using descriptive statistics.

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

In the following section cyber security behaviour findings of
the study are presented.

Here, the accountability and responsibility of global organisations gain

prominence. We believe in all round security to help employees, clients,
partners and society deploy reinforced IT security measures to protect data,
networks and telecoms.

For business continuity, employees need to be well connected among

themselves and also with their partners and customers. The frequent usage of
regular personal messaging apps on mobile devices can be prone to cyber-
security risks.

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