Cybersecurity Risk rising by 37%; ABeam cautions CISOs to strengthen their security and advised 3 security assessments.

ABeam Consulting (Thailand) reveals that 96% of CISOs interviewed indicated the need of strengthened Cyber Security due to the increasing move of businesses to move towards remote working as a result of Covid-19, requiring people to comply with social distancing. The company advises organizations to do cybersecurity audits in order to get ready for any silent threats such as hacking that may break into networks of organizations demanding a ransom. The company also suggests companies to perform a comprehensive security assessment for their personnel security assessment, corporate process & operations, as well as their technology security. Digital signature along with remote working is also suggested to increase agility in digital transactions, reduce cost, improve services and fasten document management due to the ultimate security document approval system that can function anywhere anytime on any device.  

Mr. Ichiro Hara, Managing Director of ABeam Consulting (Thailand) Ltd., a subsidiary of ABeam Consulting Ltd., a global consulting company headquartered in Japan that specializes in digital transformation, revealed that the Infosecurity Magazine, said 96% of over 250 Chief Information Security Officers interviewed, indicated the need to strengthen their cybersecurity due to the on-going shift to remote working because of the changing lifestyle that forces people to comply with social distancing. The shift can enable companies to save cost, however, it can lead also to silent threats such as hacking that can break into the vulnerable network of remote working systems. It found that organizations with remote working have a 37% risk increase for cyber-attacks.

“Cybersecurity incidents come from 3 main root causes; 1. Companies are reckless when it comes to their remote working preparation, leading to an insecure support system for their VPN, Cloud, Workstations, Notebooks, and cybersecurity awareness of employees. 2. Companies with “eggshell” security that depend on a hardened outer layer of defenses, but have a network that is essentially wide open, especially when employees work from home or internet cafes; once hackers have made it past that perimeter defense they have almost unobstructed access to the entire network. 3. An increase in active ransomware hackers with demands for ransom to stop data leaks,” said Mr. Hara.

Remote working will continue to exist, and organizations need to find a balance between their business operations and their cyber-risk protection. This can be addressed through Remote Working Cyber Security Assessments, which can minimize the risk in three steps:

1. Personnel Security Assessment by using email phishing and short training courses along with a testing system.

2. Process and Organization’s Operations Assessment through a comparison with standards such as ISO27001 when considering remote working processes.

3. Security Technology Assessment that is in use. Testing parameter configuration of equipment, vulnerabilities, and running simulation of threats to prove performance of handling the incident.

In addition, Digital Signature is an essential tool for Remote Working which will replace normal signature legitimately and can be applied to many corporate processes including contract signing, procurement documents, human resource documents and/or invoices. This increases the agility of digital transactions, reduces cost, improves services and fastens document management due to the ultimate security document approval system that can function anywhere anytime on any devices for the highest efficiency of business process in the new normal era,’ concluded Mr. Hara. 

ABeam Consulting (Thailand) Ltd. is a subsidiary of ABeam Consulting Ltd. –headquartered in Tokyo having 6,600 people serve more than 1,100 clients throughout Asia, the Americas and Europe providing consulting services in Thailand since 2005, ABeam Consulting (Thailand) has more than 400 professionals serving more than 200 clients in Thailand with expertise in digital transformation services that create strategic advantage, improve business processes, leverage technology innovation and enhance organizational performance.

Please contact us at contactthailand@abeam.com or visit https://www.abeam.com/th/en for more details.