Modern security threats and characteristics of the mobile workforce

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David Konecki | 05/07/2020
Our focus is always on external cyber threats. Massive data breaches and high-impact attacks on corporate data centers and federal systems are always making headlines. However, it is increasingly important to monitor threats within the organization and consider the human factor as a factor in system reliability as the workforce becomes more mobile. According to research from Dell, more than half (52%) of employees were already working outside the office at least one day per week before the lockdown, while 18% choose public places for work each week.


Whether through malicious intent, accident, or carelessness, end users like you and me are increasingly becoming the entry point for attackers into an enterprise’s internal network. Gone are the days when we el salvador whatsapp data exclusively from our offices on our desktop computers. Today, we work from our apartments, coffee shops, co-working spaces, and other public spaces on laptops, smartphones, tablets, and desktops. While this flexibility empowers the workforce, it also creates new threats. There are a number of key areas to focus on this year: social engineering attacks, user behavior analysis, and the need for comprehensive solutions to protect against external and internal threats.

Gaining access through social engineering
While many attacks are carried out through malware and phishing, there are also growing incidents involving social engineering—when attackers trick users into revealing their credentials, such as usernames and passwords. This type of attack is attractive because, if successful, the attacker can easily impersonate a legitimate user—and is difficult to stop with antivirus software. Using social engineering, attackers learn personal information about employees and then use that data to trick them into handing over access to sensitive corporate information. According to the Dell End-User Security Survey, about half of all employees in large and small businesses regularly visit social media on their work devices. This means they pose a risk to their employers.