COVID is an infectious disease caused by a virus. However the pandemic has larger impact on the IT landscape as well.

Each organization within the Healthcare industry has been reinventing and making efforts to keep themself well equipped to counter the pandemic. Steadily, their IT teams have also been in the forefront ensuring connectivity and data storage demands like never before. There are data being expanded both Onprem and OnCloud platforms. This is a worldwide phenomenon and it’s being easier for hackers to have access to large amounts of user information. Credential theft and malware attacks aimed at data theft and Ransome are no more an “if or when” rather it’s becoming “who today”.

Well this is not limited to Healthcare Industry but generally organizations across all verticals have been affected one way or the other. The data and user information,  which was conveniently stored and  secured in the Central Data Center, is now distributed. This is due to the outburst of people working from home, where data has to be made available for work purposes.

In recent times identity theft and data exfiltration has seen an all-time high. Security experts are scrambling to get their act together to ensure damage is contained. Many organizations still perceive security as an expense and hence the required controls are mostly addressed for compliance purpose only. The proper use of tools with continuous monitoring and improvement is key to keep your fort secure. Gone are the days for security investments to be looked at as mere compliance requirement rather the ROI should now be calculated based on the loss incurred in the event of data or brand value loss.

Robust next generation end point security solutions to ensure proper malware protection combined with effective privileged access management solutions are key in this fight against hackers and ransomwares.

Another key vector is the Email channel. Emails are one of the most used communication channels and hence Competent Email Security solutions with required sandboxing and email recovery capabilities would greatly aid to ensure the hygiene, of the most used malware delivery system, is maintained.

There are various solutions, based on the organization’s business, that may have to be employed to ensure the data and identities are protected. However, on top of all, a strong and detailed security process need to be practiced. The adherence to policy and educating the employees on ensuring proper practices, will go a long way in the fight against the villains. Time and again these concerns and required countermeasures have been highlighted by many. But the pandemic has given us yet another reason to ensure 100% adherence to the security norms of the organization.

Data is called the new Oil but Oil spills are dangerous and devastating. Protect your data and identities whether on cloud or hosted or on premises or distributed.