Cyber criminals are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic for commercial gain using a variety of ransomware and phishing attacks. The CISA issued an activity alert titled COVID-19 Exploited by Malicious Cyber Actors. According to the alert, the most common threats include:

Employees tend to be more productive when they work remotely, which is one plus for the many organizations quickly moving to remote environments. But there are security drawbacks.

As cyber criminals leverage more intelligent methods of attack, the need for protection becomes more crucial. An obvious starting point to protecting against ransomware is ensuring you have suitable anti-virus and security software that is kept up to date. As seen in many cases, however, zero-day malware is becoming more common so anti-virus software does not necessarily provide any guarantee of protection against this threat.

Phishing is an easy, cheap and effective defrauding method. Chances are high that you've dealt with phishing attempts. When cyber criminals us email to deceive people into downloading a piece of malicious software or providing personal or financial information, that's called phishing.

As malware, phishing attempts and other threats become more sophisticated, it's more important than ever to have IT security that your business can count on. C Spire Business is teaming up with Cisco, a worldwide leader in IT, networking, and cybersecurity solutions, to bring you the Layered Security Webinar Series. During the four-part series, you will learn the best practices for safeguarding your business with C Spire’s Cisco security products.

The most notable global cybersecurity events of 2019 included a Capital One breach that impacted about 106 million, an unprotected Facebook database that leaked millions of users' phone numbers, and a DoorDash breach that exposed the data of 4.9 million people.