Summary Bullets:

• IBM is mapping its COVID-19 support efforts around seven major technology and business concerns relevant to clients during the outbreak, with business continuity and IT security being two key areas.

• Company executives think the move by so many organizations to remote work will accelerate major post-pandemic transformation projects.

The rapid shift of brick and mortar operations by enterprises and governments to a remote work model has placed technology companies front and center in the fight for business to survive. IT vendors and service providers are helping clients with everything from standing up new collaboration systems and providing critical connectivity to delivering AI-based tools to support customer communications with fewer call center resources. As one of the world’s largest providers of technology and professional and managed services, IBM has been leading a massive effort to help clients transition to and manage remote operations. Continue reading “COVID-19: IBM Helps Clients Protect their Digital Assets and Keep Newly Remote Operations Online During the Pandemic” →

Summary Bullets:

• Security heads must consider the right options when addressing security gaps in an organization’s IT, with a particular focus on email phishing, ransomware, DDoS, and network breaches.

• Assess vendors that have strong threat management capabilities, wide portfolio coverage encompassing cloud and endpoint security through a platform-centric approach, and flexible commercial pricing arrangements.

The global healthcare sector is being subjected to an array of cyberattacks as it deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. Criminals are attempting to cash in through ransomware and compromise the integrity of IT systems. Recent examples where GlobalData has seen cyberattacks include i) Bruno University Hospital in Czech Republic, one of the country’s COVID-19 testing centers, was struck by ransomware resulting in the postponement of surgeries, ii) the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack intended to disrupt the organization’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and iii) increased phishing website hacking attempts on the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Continue reading “COVID-19: Considerations for Cybersecurity in Healthcare” →

Summary Bullets:

• Vendors are prioritizing portfolio and marketing effort on the most common types of COVID-19 related cyber events, covering phishing and identity attacks.

• Cybersecurity vendors are reconfiguring their service and support functions encompassing remote working. Vendors face internal operational challenges in scaling up quickly with the right level of security posture.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a huge impact globally across families and communities. In turn, this is having a massive impact on businesses of all sizes, including global multinationals. Almost all Fortune 100 and 500 companies have experienced major disruptions to their operations and markets, resulting in some economists predicting losses of more than $1.1 trillion worldwide. COVID-19 has created shutdowns and major disruptions in employee working styles and supply chains in all sectors, and in particular across government, finance, manufacturing, IT, and media. As these sectors reconfigure their operations, one of the most critical issues arising are increased cyber-attack threats as organizations become more dependent on technology. Continue reading “COVID-19: Impact on Cybersecurity” →

Summary Bullets:

• Verizon’s annual Payment Security Report captures a snapshot of organizations struggling to continue successful controls and best practices over time.
• The evidence shows those who do are rewarded with a better fortified defense against breaches.

Fifteen years after the payment card industry settled on a single data security standard with PCI DSS, there are indications that too many organizations’ security practices haven’t risen to the level of maturity which would have been anticipated at this point.  In Verizon’s annual survey of payment card industry security practices, only 37% of the 302 surveyed enterprises sustain full compliance with the 12 specifications outlined in PCI DSS consistently over time.  Effectively, most organizations are focusing on meeting the basic requirements rather than developing consistent and effective security practices – not unlike a procrastinating student who is just looking to pass the test.  Just 18% check to see if they are meeting PCI DSS specifications more often than what the standard mandates. Continue reading “Verizon Payment Security Research Exposes Execution Issues” →