Ninety-seven percent of organizations have seen cyberattack volumes increase or stay the same since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began, according to a survey of 613 IT security professionals conducted by Check Point Software Technologies.
Meanwhile, 29 percent indicated that they expect a return to pre-COVID-19 operations at some point in the future, and 20 percent said their situation has already returned to its prior level.
Survey respondents cited protecting remote employees (47 percent) as their top security challenge entering 2021, Check Point indicated. They also named protecting against phishing and social engineering attacks (42 percent), maintaining secure remote access (41 percent) and securing cloud applications and infrastructure (39 percent) as key security challenges for the new year.
In addition, survey respondents said securing remote workers was their top security priority for the next two years, Check Point stated. Other security priorities for survey respondents through 2023 included endpoint and mobile security and protecting public or multiple clouds.
How to Guard Against Cyberattacks in 2021 and Beyond
Check Point offered the following tips to help organizations keep pace with the "new normal" of cybersecurity created by the pandemic:
- Prioritize Real-Time Prevention: Use security tools that can protect employees, networks against real-time cyberattacks and threats
- Monitor Your Security Posture Regularly: Conduct ongoing assessments to ensure that all aspects of an organization's network infrastructure is secure
- Maintain Network Visibility: Leverage a unified network management solution to track infrastructure changes and close security gaps before they can lead to cyberattacks and data breaches
Going forward, organizations must pay close attention to security across their distributed networks, Check Point indicated. In doing so, they can find ways to optimize their security posture and keep their networks running securely and efficiently.
