A result of the fall-out from the coronavirus lockdown will be a big rise in data breaches, according to DSA Connect, the IT company that offers deletion and destruction of electronic data. It warns this could add to the losses incurred by employers from the virus, but the true cost could take time to unfold after the worst of the crisis is over, because many data breaches can take 100 days or more to be discovered.
The company says the increase in data breaches will be fuelled by a rise in phishing websites; and depleted workforces and employees having to work from home where they may be more susceptible to cyber-attacks. In part, this is due to employees visiting websites while working from home that they wouldn’t normally do from the workplace. They will also find it harder to prove the identity of people contacting them from outside.
Harry Benham, Chairman of DSA Connect said: “In the privacy of their own homes, employees are more likely to visit dubious websites, and working from home also makes it harder to be sure of the identity of people contacting you who don’t work for the same organisation as you. Face-to-face business meetings have been replaced by telephone or video calls, and because of this employees are at greater risk of fraudsters ‘spear phishing’, which is the fraudulent practice of sending emails ostensibly from a known or trusted sender in order to encourage targeted individuals to reveal confidential information, or ‘whaling’ frauds, which are phishing attacks directed specifically at senior executives.
“In the wake of coronavirus and with more people working from home, fraudsters have stepped up their targeting of companies and their employees, and this dramatically increases the chances of data breaches.”
About DSA Connect
DSA Connect is an IT asset disposal specialist (ITAD) using tools certified by CESG and approved by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It removes data storage media and equipment from a client’s premises and takes it away in unmarked, tracked vehicles. Its personnel carry ID cards and senior site personnel have BS7858 security screening. After degaussing, whereby data from hard drives and data tapes are destroyed, disused and obsolete hard drives are destroyed in an industrial shredder. As for recycling, items not suitable for dismantling are sent to licenced Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) processing plants. Visit https://www.dsa-connect.co.uk/.
