94% of IT Professionals Worry More about Security After the Coronavirus Outbreak

94% of security and IT professionals across the globe have become more concerned about their digital security in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study from Tripwire in partnership with Dimensional Research.

The mid-April survey outlines the top concerns of 345 security team leaders from organizations with more than 100 employees. While organizations struggle to asses and mitigate the risks of increased COVID-19 related attacks, 58% of security concerns gravitate around the work-from-home transition of employees.

Additionally, 45% of security professionals fear increased ransomware, phishing and social engineering attacks, and 38% find it more challenging to keep remote systems compliant and analyzing or securing traffic coming through VPNs. 

89% of participants said remote work has made it difficult “to do a great job at security:”

• 49% said that they can’t effectively secure employee home office environments
• 41% find it more challenging to manage which devices connect to the corporate network
• 37% believe it’s harder to collaborate and communicate as a security team
• 32% access needed tools with difficulty

As for Covid-19-related attacks, 63% of respondents said they have experienced outside intrusions. However, 61% of IT staff declared that the attempts were unsuccessful, and just 2% confirmed that their organizations were breached.

In terms of mobility and difficulties in dealing with Covid-19, 56% of participants said they were somewhat prepared. Just 29% said their security plans were well in place and it was simple to adjust, and 2% said they were not impacted by the outbreak.

The survey also asked organizations if the security of their systems and data has changed during the lockdown:

• Surprisingly, 8% of security professionals said they are significantly less secure than before
• 25% mentioned that the security issues were just temporary, and that security levels are back to normal
• Only 6% of respondents claim that their organization’s security is better than before the Covid-19 outbreak