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Facing he rise o cyber crime in he COVID era n GORDON ARCHIBALD he COVID-19 pandemic caused he mass reloca ion o workers rom he rela ive sa e y o heir corpora e ne work o s udies, bedrooms and ki chen ables all over he world –expanding he atack sur ace o organisa ions exponen ially. So, wha changes has he o ce exodus brough o our cyber hrea environmen . In addi ion o he cyber-crime challenges be ore he crisis, more han our in en organisa ions (41 percen ) have experienced an increase in cyber-securi y inciden s according o he 2020 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey. Las year’s edi ion o his research, he larges global survey o echnology leaders, sugges ed a posi ive rend when i came o cyber-crime. I showed ha as he board’s aten ion o cyber-securi y grew and inves men increased, cyber-atacks had opped ou and even s ar ed o decrease. In responses colla ed be ore he pandemic, major atacks had allen ye again. Un or una ely, no amoun o board aten ion could have predic ed or compensa ed or he unexpec ed mass reloca ion o o ce workers rom corpora e ne works o home ne works. Eigh y-six percen o survey responden s moved a signifcan percen age o heir work orce o remo e working. Te atack sur ace o organisa ions expanded exponen ially, wi h I depar men s s ruggling o suppor and secure he myriad o new, personal devices accessing ne works. Overall, hree-quar ers o responden s indica ed he impor ance and role o cyber-securi y increased as a resul o COVID-19. Bu how has he atack landscape changed? Globally, he bigges rise was in spear phishing (83 percen ) and malware (62 percen ), ollowed by denial-o -service atacks (21 percen ). Te jump in phishing and malware indica es he grow h in risk has come mainly hrough cyber criminals arge ing newly remo e-working employees. Perhaps unsurprisingly, securi y is now he op echnology inves men pri-
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ori y, lis ed by 47 percen o responden s. And, or he frs ime in his survey’s hisory, cyber-securi y exper ise has become he mos in-demand skill se . As well as remo e access rom personal devices, he rapid scaling o cloud-based so ware and he managemen o vas amoun s o da a and documen s across a complex echnology environmen all represen new pressures on securi y and privacy. Cus omer experience and engagemen , he second highes priori y ech inves men , will rely heavily on a cloud-based digi al inras ruc ure, so cloud securi y becomes paramoun . Tere are some core ac ivi ies ha organisa ions can under ake o pro ec hemselves rom increased hrea s:
• Dynamically evalua e risk including he con ex o he changing opera ing environmen . For example, hrea s and risks deemed low in a pre-COVID world, may now be high. • S reng hen educa ion and awareness o s a , who may be prone o increased phishing and malware atacks. • eassess he e ec iveness o cyber con rols pro ec ing cri ical sys ems and da a and new delivery pla orms. • e-evalua e con rols wi h your hird par ies. Tere have been recen cases o infl ra ion occurring via hird par ies, who have had weaker securi y con rols in place.
• Upda e and es Business Coninui y processes and programs and have confdence in he abiliy o recover rom an inciden . Wi h cyber risks increasing, companies will urn o ou sourced or managed services o help keep heir sys ems robus agains atacks. Wi h every home rou er now a po en ial weak poin , a securi y rehink is needed or he new ‘hybrid work’ environmen , where signifcan numbers o workers will remain ou side radi ional workplaces, par or all he ime. First published by Gordon Archibald, Partner, National Lead, Cyber Security Services KPMG Australia and Mark Tims Partner, Technology Risk, KPMG Australia on KPMG Newsroom on 1 October 2020.
WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS OCTOBER 2020
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