LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employers to have people work remotely to keep up with distancing guidelines. 

But, the FBI and cybersecurity companies have reported a huge spike in cyberattacks since the pandemic began.

For some, the coronavirus pandemic transformed their homes into workspaces. But remote workers have become a target for cybercriminals.

“The bad guys know that folks had to rush home, had to figure how to work from home, and devices that belong to themselves rather than the corporation are not nearly as secure and bad guys are trying to take advantage of it,” said Dave Hatter, a cybersecurity consultant with InTrust IT.

He said that the FBI has seen quadruple the amount of complaints on its internet crime complaint center site. Hatter said a remote worker’s info isn’t the only thing at stake. These hackers look to cash in with a much bigger target.

“They get into a corporate environment and wreak all kinds of havoc and possibly put that company out of business, it’s not unheard of and some of these companies don’t survive these attacks,” said Hatter.

These losses can prove costly even if a company has cyber insurance. But, Hatter warns that not every business has a policy and even if they do, they can’t solely rely on that to bail them out.

“They range anywhere from $1,000 to $2 million so if you don’t have cyber insurance, that $2 million is coming out of your budget,” said Hatter. If you do have insurance, they may or may not pay the claim depending on what happened,” he added.

Hatter said that we will continue to see remote workers and businesses being targeted, but says that investing in beefing up security can help companies become less of a soft target.

One of the best defenses is to help educate and train workers into becoming human firewalls. If something seems off or out of the ordinary, take it right to your manager and the IT department.

“Part of it is without any technology at all, for users to stop, think and protect,” said Hatter.

Hatter warns that all it takes is one mistake when someone’s guard is down for this to become a very real problem for a company.

“It can happen to you. most small companies are much softer targets and especially with people working from home where their devices aren’t secure, they are plugging in things like Alexa and other devices that are poking holes in their network, it’s creating a lot more risk,” said Hatter.