For many businesses, the threat of cybersecurity and related issues are becoming a day-to-day struggle.

Recent trends reveal that the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic include a huge increase in hacked and breached data from mobile and IoT devices in the workplace. To add to that, the shift from working at the office to remote or work from home models has made even more inroads for cyber attacks.

A COVID-19 Risks Outlook study by the World Economic Forum found that 50% of enterprises were concerned about the increased cyberattacks that came with shifts in work patterns.

While the concerns are merited, making unplanned and hasty digital transformation decisions will only add to the spate of cybersecurity issues being experienced worldwide. In fact, recent security research suggests that many companies are vulnerable to data loss because they lack data protection and strong cybersecurity practices.

To successfully fight against malicious intent, businesses must add cybersecurity awareness, prevention and security best practices to their company culture.

INTERPOL carried out an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on cybercrime. From the report, cybercriminals have significantly shifted their targets. Instead of individuals and small businesses, they're now targeting governments, major corporations and critical infrastructure.

Businesses and organisations rapidly deploy their networks and systems to support work from home arrangements for their staff. In the midst of all this are cybercriminals, who are leveraging vulnerabilities in those systems and networks to steal data, cause disruption and generate profits.

For instance, from January to April 2020, INTERPOL's private sector partners detected some 737 malware-related incidents, 48,000 malicious URLs, and 907,000 spam messages. All these are related to COVID-19.

The findings of the INTERPOL assessment also revealed some of the threats that have been rampant since the pandemic began. Among them are online scams, phishing, disruptive malware like DDoS and ransomware, data harvesting malware, malicious domains, and misinformation involving scams via mobile text messages.

As people's online dependency increased so did opportunities but not many individuals and businesses focused on keeping their cyber defenses up to date.

As the worldwide information security market is predicted to hit $170.4 billion in 2022, technology providers are stepping up their game and rethinking their strategies and offerings to accommodate the new security landscape. In addition, they're constantly monitoring the needs of their customers, adjusting sales, service and trainings to meet the needs of the "new normal".

Among the responses to the pandemic include quickly instituting measures to protect against new cyberthreats by downloading VPNs to patch remote systems and requiring remote team members to use strong passwords that get updated regularly. Other businesses are monitoring spiking threat levels and allocating more resources in their fiscal budgets for crisis-inspired security measures.

As changes continue coming and hackers keep targeting the growing dependence on digital tools, businesses have two options: relax on their cybersecurity strategy and turn into a disaster, or intensify and emphasize on cybersecurity to add to their bottom line.