Carlos Friaças, manager of the cybersecurity service at FCCN, explains why we should be alert to cyberthreats related to the new coronavirus pandemic .
The pandemic we are experiencing has unfortunately created a window of opportunity for the emergence of multiple new frauds linked to this issue. This represents an additional challenge, in terms of cybersecurity, for both organizations and individuals.
National and international official entities are aware of this issue and have issued several communiqués and recommendations addressed to the general population. In these times, all official warnings are useful, as citizens should only trust figures released by official sources, just as they should only make online purchases from recognized vendors and through secure electronic payments.
The exponential increase of teleworking registered in Portugal in recent weeks has also motivated recent recommendations by the National Cybersecurity Centre, which most citizens should adopt. Hospital organizations (whether public or private) continue to be unbelievably targeted by cyberattacks and victims of ransomware phenomena that have the potential to severely affect their operation, at this time of acute pressure on their resources.
Just as we must all help to defeat this pandemic by isolating ourselves, the functioning of the most critical electronic media also depends on our individual ability to resist fraud and digital infections on our various devices. So we must remain vigilant and informed about the most current threats.
To learn more about cybersecurity, visit www.cert.rcts.pt. For questions or information, please contact us at info@cert.rcts.pt.
If you're working from home and want to find a secure solution for accessing public and private networks, check out eduVPN, the VPN (Virtual Private Network) service developed by GÉANT for the international research and education community. To find out more, read the news about the new service provided by FCCN.
