*By Otto Pohlmann
Year after year, digital threats are a source of concern for companies of different sizes and segments around the world. This is already natural in a year that could be considered normal, but in 2020 this fear took on new shapes with the intense digitalization caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Virtually all companies were forced to adopt virtual processes due to remote work and new sales channels for their customers. Consequently, the number of threats has grown significantly. Check out the top five facing corporations in 2020:
1 - Ramsonware
By far, it was the main digital threat to companies throughout 2020. In a nutshell, it is a malware which, when installed on the organization's system, is capable of encrypting the most important files. Thus, criminals demand payment of a ransom (usually in cryptocurrencies in order to make tracking more difficult) to release the data again. In an increasingly connected world, losing the most sensitive data results in a huge financial loss that can even ruin the operation of the business.
2 - Information leakage
As dangerous as losing data to virtual hijackers is to see your customers' information and your operation leaked due to security breaches. Most of them occur through loopholes that cybercriminals find in the security structure of the corporation, such as a Login open or connect third party devices to company equipment. Here, the loss is not only financial, but also of image - after all, it can also cause complications for customers who have nothing to do with history.
3 - Payment fraud
The year 2020 also caused an old problem to reappear, mainly with the accelerated digitalization caused by the covid-19 pandemic: payment fraud. It is not today that hackers try to tamper with pages of Check-out in virtual stores and even generate fake payment slips on transactions. With the exponential increase in financial transfers over the internet, this practice has improved with new malware that attack pages and apps to steal companies' money.
4 - Signature scams
A practice that occurs mainly in smartphones. In it, users install applications to subscribe to certain products or services, but the prices turn out to be much more expensive than previously announced - causing financial damage to the company and, worse, being able to serve as a gateway to other threats. In such cases, it is necessary to correctly guide employees not to download suspicious applications on corporate cell phones.
5 - Phishing
It is, perhaps, the oldest digital threat: it has existed since the beginning of the commercial internet, in the 1990s, but unfortunately it remains increasingly current and threatening. THE phishing it is nothing more than a bait that seeks to “fish” financial information from users. For a long time it was restricted to email, with fake marketing campaigns and malicious links. But with social networks it has new possibilities, such as fake ads and links shared via messaging applications. Cybercriminals take advantage of a hot topic for the company and its professionals, such as the covid-19 pandemic, to attract the links they will install malware in the system.
* Otto Pohlmann It is CEO gives Centric
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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