Confinement and Cybersecurity: RSSI and Businesses Are Concerned

The health situation around the world continues to worsen.

In France, as everywhere else, the authorities are trying to adapt and find a solution to get out of this health problem, which continues to have an increasing impact on several other sectors. For example, in terms of communication, the fact that people are confined use the network even more. Whether it's the MOBILE phone or the Internet, saturation is not far away. Especially on the internet side where traffic has only exploded lately. Remote work has become a necessity to enable businesses to continue to operate. However all these traffics are an opportunity for cyber malice.

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An open door that they will not let pass. That's why information system security officials are on alert. Businesses have never been more exposed to cyberattacks. "In 72 hours the situation in France became dramatically tense. While until the speech of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening, March 12, 2020, companies began to adopt telework policies year after year for some of their employees, the latter are about to change gears (…). Companies are on edge, and so are their CIOs and RSSI. journalist Dominique Filippone commented in an article published on 16 March 2020.Simply put, telework has been a hastily adopted solution for many companies. They are not prepared for that and the stress of dealing with all this uncertainty is a basic problem. "For companies that can offer their teams to work remotely, it is necessary to move quickly and adapt accordingly the management and remote access authorizations to the company's IS, at best from already certified terminals, to the worst personal with all the security risks that entails.

But also size their network to accommodate the influx of connections and workloads on their network that is not necessarily ready to support it. The journalist noted. This is why corporate security officials are very susceptible at the moment. They have to adapt and make sure that this problem is not a bigger problem. And apparently cyber criminals realize this, of course. "We are in a crisis situation," said Franck Chemin, head of the IT security, fraud and continuity department at Crédit Agricole de Alpes Provence. "Since yesterday we have seen quite extensive attempts at attacks, many by brute force on exposed services, with things coming from Asia," Thibaut Cauliez, RSSI of the Veterinary Company, told reporters. He will note that: "More generally there are many companies that have rushed to the network for telework, which is a boon for governments and hackers to act."

In addition, the situation is very unfavourable for businesses. Unprepared for all this, some people may make mistakes in time. Mistakes that are often paid dearly. This is why Thibaut Cauliez warned: "We must not open RDP machines on the world, the problem is SMEs that are not equipped with a VPN and who open this port to allow their employees to access their computer system which opens a significant gap (…) We haven't been impacted, but RSSI colleagues have been subjected to phishing attempts and scams by coronavirus campaigns."

But how to handle this problem with as little damage as possible. It's not of course it's panic. To organize and be in solidarity. Apply basic security measures. The most important thing, of course, is not to panic.

If the watchword is not to give in to panic, the coming days and weeks are nevertheless difficult: "You have to be careful to use only your computer for professional purposes and not consult dubious websites. For our part, we are starting to lock access a little more, but it is above all measures of common sense and basic hygiene that must apply, without giving in to panic, closing critical ports RDP and file sharing, and doing monitoring," advised Thibaut Cauliez.

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