What businesses, individuals and governments can do in the face of rising cybercrime

Ensuring the latest security patches are installed and rebooting the computer once-a-day to run the memory virus scan are some of the easiest things individuals can do to protect a device, according to Barry Cook, privacy and group data protection officer, VFS Global, an outsourcing and technology services company that serves governments and diplomatic missions worldwide.

“Basic security hygiene, like the equivalent of wearing a mask and washing hands are important,” he said. A lot of the smarter bits of malware reside in memory, so [rebooting the computer] makes them harder to detect.”

Prior to Covid-19, only 10 percent of workers in the UAE reported working from home one to two days per week, compared to a global average of 62 percent, according to a 2019 survey by International Workplace Group. But now, those rates are much higher, and employees want to continue to work from home, at least part-time, with 64 percent saying that the ability to conduct hybrid work – from a home or office – would contribute to their happiness, an Avaya-commissioned survey reported.

Cook said most individuals don’t invest in the same level of antivirus protection that businesses will, adding to the vulnerability.

“So you end up using your laptop, which may not have the security configurations because, as individuals, we’re not going to spend the same money on a laptop, as the company does. Certainly in buying antivirus software, so the chances are, if you’re using your own device, it is of a lower standard of security than a corporately supplied one,” he said.

He added that individuals should be cautious of the public wi-fi networks they choose while working from coffee shops or other public places, revealing that for $10-$15, or less if the individual has some programming capability, hackers can create a faux wi-fi network.

“And he only needs to sit closer to the person than the actual Wi-Fi transmitter, and they will hook on to your [computer],” he said. “And they can see everything that flows across.”

Barry Cook, privacy and group data protection officer, VFS Global

It could be chatting with friends or personal emails, but it could also be bank account details or company information. “It’s all quite easily captured,” Cook said.

For businesses, employers can make sure that employees only check emails when they’re connected to the company VPN where phishing protection filters are more likely to catch harmful emails – 22 percent of breaches in 2020 involved phishing scams, according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigation report.

With the rapid rise in the use of Zoom for business and personal communication during the pandemic, Zoom phishing scams became more common, Cook said, adding hackers would send a fraudulent email that looked like it linked to a Zoom meeting room.

With scams on the rise, governments can continuously update populations and offer advice about how to avoid the latest threats.

“Simple top five tips are good. Make that publicly available, and put it on the government websites,” he said. “Break it down into simple terms of what people can do. A lot of people are not tech aware. And it’s all a bit scary.”