[ad_1]
Norway is in the second wave of the corona pandemic, and authorities have strongly encouraged as many people as possible to work from home.
– The home office makes it possible for employees to work without being physically present at the workplace. At the same time, the home office offers some security challenges, department director Bente Hoff at the National Center for Cyber Security at the National Security Authority (NSM) tells TV 2.
NSM has experienced a significant increase in the number of cyber attacks during the pandemic.
– Cyber threats are real and they happen every day. Threat actors are trying to take advantage of the situation now that many work from home, and it’s important that both businesses and home office employees are aware, Hoff says.
There is a particular form of attack that security experts point to as a significant threat in the future.
Does not report errors
Many of the mechanisms that are present when working in the office are not present when sitting at home, says senior advisor Hans Marius Tessem at the Norwegian Center for Information Security (NorSIS). This can lead you to be more at risk of being misled by criminals.
– It’s as simple as being able to call a colleague when you are unsure about something. Maybe you get an unusual email and want to ask the boss if it’s genuine, but the boss is guaranteed to be in a Teams meeting, says Tessem.
NorSIS has conducted a survey that shows that many employees do not report if they make a potentially devastating mistake, such as clicking on a dangerous link. The threshold for quitting can be even higher in the home office.
Tessem also points to potential computer-related security challenges in the home office.
– The network at work often has some security settings that you do not have at home, with a firewall that will protect against some of the attacks.
– Take advantage of the situation
According to NSM, many employers use insecure login solutions, with simple usernames and passwords that can be accessed and exploited by unauthorized persons.
– This represents a particularly great risk for companies operating critical infrastructure or critical social functions, where employees now sit at home and manage ICT systems, Hoff says.
She believes that many companies were in a rush to establish home office solutions in March and April, and is concerned that this was so fast that not all security-related vulnerabilities could be assessed.
“Threat actors take advantage of the situation we are in, for example by using email infected with a crown-related topic or by exploiting vulnerabilities in technical solutions that we have at our headquarters,” says Hoff.
Jørn Cato detected problems when the company received this invoice from Antibac
Infected email can cause the criminal to gain access to information on an employee’s computer and perhaps gain further access to central company systems.
It is through this method that criminals can commit the form of fraud that experts are most concerned about in the future, namely: ransomware virus.
Europol: – The dominant threat
Europol’s latest IOCTA (Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment) report, released in October, mentions the ransomware virus as the most pervasive threat to businesses in Europe and elsewhere.
“Due to the damage that the ransomware virus can do, it appears that victims are often hesitant to appear before the police or authorities when they have been attacked, making it difficult to identify and investigate cases,” writes Europol.
Therefore, unknown accounts on social networks add you.
NSM has observed an increase in the use of ransomware viruses for several years, and has seen it especially this year.
– The ransomware virus works when an actor locks the content of your computer so that you do not get it, and then demands money to unlock it again. A new trend that we see related to the ransomware virus is that the player not only locks the machine but also threatens to publish the content. Therefore, it becomes a double threat, Hoff says.
In a YouGov survey for NorSIS among Norwegians aged 15-74, nearly one in ten responded that they had been exposed to the ransomware virus at home or at work in the past year.
Ransomware viruses affect businesses, but it’s not just large companies that are exposed. In February, TV 2 wrote about when the family business Bakke Maskinservice experienced what can happen after an attack with a ransomware virus.
– Criminals are getting better
A ransomware virus can enter company computer systems in a number of ways, but the most common is for an employee to click on an insecure link or insecure attachment that they receive.
– Recently less attention has been paid to the ransomware virus in the media, but we see that the number of cases does not decrease. The ransomware virus is the form of fraud that I think will increase the most in the future, says Tessem.
NSM Tips for the Home Office:
– Have good passwords.
– Use multi-factor authentication when available.
– Avoid mixing private ICT equipment with equipment you have received from your employer.
– Be up to date with the latest security update from the vendor, both for the operating system and software.
– Avoid home offices with open networks.
– Be aware that fraud attempts do occur.
According to Europol, ransomware virus attacks are becoming more and more targeted and therefore more credible to the victim. Criminals use information about you or your company to increase the chances that you will be scammed.
– Criminals get better at adapting to the scam, and this usually happens automatically. We have seen that several have received emails containing a password that they have used and can still use, says Tessem.
The senior advisor himself recently received an email saying he had a chance to win an iPhone because he was an Altibox customer.
– It is true that I am an Altibox customer, so in that sense it was quite credible. I went to the same link on my mobile, and it suddenly said Telia instead. This shows that the scammers use my IP address to tailor the scam, says Tessem.
