Accomplice the pandemic, in recent months many companies have switched to remote working or have accelerated on adopting a major digitization. Choices that have opened up new challenges on the security front and that require the development of dedicated strategies and plans with a view to cybersecurity, so they don’t make themselves easy targets for cybercriminals. A growing theme, as the last one highlights Digital Defense Report realized by Microsoft on the basis of which, over the last year, the sophistication of attacks has increased, with a clear preference for certain techniques and a significant increase in interest in “remote workers” to access corporate information assets. “Hackers are full-fledged criminal groups that operate according to very specific business models and exploit the use of new technologies”, he explains Carlo Mauceli, national digital officer of Microsoft Italy.
Among the most widespread threats, it detects Mauceli, “stand out i ransomware, or computer viruses that make files on infected computers inaccessible and demand a ransom to be paid to restore them. ” phishing aimed at credential theft “representing about the 70% of cases. “Among the increasing risks Mauceli also cites the threats to IoT devices (i.e. Internet of things, the technology that allows objects to communicate with each other, thanks to sensors, without human intervention), together with those related to remote work that have seen a considerable spread in these months of pandemic, making more It is difficult to manage corporate security due to wider networks also made up of personal devices. “It is therefore increasingly important to raise awareness of this issue, for example by combining passwords with other forms of authentication,” observes Mauceli. The expert highlights how in Italy awareness of everything related to the cyber world has grown, even if the development of correct protection strategies that allow the prevention and updating of technological infrastructures, especially in the world of SMEs, it’s still a big problem. According to Mauceli, the factors that prevent this evolution are different, “such as the lack of a structured digital culture, which is instead present in the countries of Northern Europe, and the investments that are too often lacking”.
Furthermore, he adds, “we must not forget that most vulnerabilities arise from an incorrect configuration of the systems, to remedy which, moreover, Microsoft provides guidelines that can be used. It is then necessary to take advantage of all the security features that are present in the systems and that allow you to defend yourself from around the 75% of threats. ”The group also recently launched the Cybersecurity Experience, a space dedicated to IT security training located inside the Microsoft Technology Center of the Microsoft House in Milan. “As part of the initiative, companies and professionals can experience firsthand the experience of a cyber attack, through an immersive, interactive and highly customizable demonstration based on the sector they belong to and the role of the interlocutor”, he explains. Mauceli. “Organizations can pretend to be hackers in virtual simulations and at the same time test the outcome of some threats, from the trusted employee working from
remote can naively make mistakes for the collaborator who maliciously tries to compromise the corporate information assets, up to actual attacks caused by cybercriminals. All while also experimenting with solutions and tools available to protect themselves “, he concludes Mauceli.
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