According to an FBI analysis, cyber incidents have nearly doubled during the pandemic.

Cyber predators are focusing on insecure devices and exploiting bogus domains to gain access to data and systems.

COVID-19 has caused businesses to change their business models in the blink of an eye. Industries are seeing a large-scale adoption of work from home as demand for digital infrastructure skyrockets.

Unsecured devices, unapproved software, stressed and distracted personnel has all contributed to the growth of the attack surface, exposing firms to a variety of cyber threats. According to a recent FBI report, cybercrime has nearly doubled during the lockdown; thousands of fake, unauthorized internet domains, phony corporations offering loans, phony coronavirus-related charities, masks, and other equipment are being created by cyber crooks capitalizing on pandemic fears.

Cyberattacks have been blamed on CEOs, and they have been held liable.

As the world moves toward hyper-connectivity, it is estimated that the precise financial impact of cyber-physical system attacks would cost businesses $50 billion in the next three years.

If other indirect costs such as litigation, insurance, compensation, regulatory fines, and reputational harm were factored in, this sum might be much higher.

On the demand side, consumers have a considerably lower tolerance for security failures, with 40% directly blaming CEOs for enabling security errors. In addition, a constantly evolving regulatory framework has become increasingly harsh and demanding. According to Gartner, by the end of 2024, 75% of CEOs will be held personally liable for cyber risks and assaults that result in injury or other bodily harm.

With each passing year, there is more evidence that cyber dangers are becoming a greater source of concern for CEOs. Here are the top five cyber dangers that CEOs are most concerned about:

Ransomware attack: Ransomware attacks are believed to have cost US firms more than $7.5 billion in 2019. According to recent statistics, ransomware attacks increased by 72 % this year as a result of the pandemic’s disarray. Ransomware remained the top concern for CEOs in a study earlier this year, ahead of fire and floods.

Phishing attacks: According to cyber experts, phishing emails constitute the starting point for 90% of all cyberattacks. Following the pandemic, there has been a remarkable 6000 percent spike in phishing assaults around the world. Every day, Google claims to have blocked more than 18 million coronavirus hoax emails.

Concerns about cloud security: In the aftermath of COVID-19, many businesses are turning to cloud technology to help them handle remote working problems and maintain business continuity. As a result, individuals will confront new and frightening security challenges as they progress through the adoption process. According to studies, the public and commercial cloud security risks have increased by about 600 percent in recent years.

Social Media: Scammers use social media to obtain information about persons and businesses in order to impersonate legitimate family members, friends, charity, public organizations, and government officials.

The Twitter accounts of some of the world’s most well-known CEOs were hacked in order to dupe followers into a cryptocurrency fraud. This is strong evidence of the global and industry-wide rise in social media cyber dangers.Frauds CEOs: BEC (Business email compromise), also known as CEO fraud, is a type of phishing attack that is expected to cost firms billions of dollars in the first half of 2020. Cyber crooks use this approach to easily fake corporation email accounts and impersonate executives. The FBI has issued a warning about a sharp rise in BEC frauds. Since March of this year, there have been about 7,000 CEO frauds reported.

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