How did the Covid pandemic change cyber security? (part 1)

22nd July 2025

With more people working from home, what impact did that have on cyber security and how can the repercussions still be felt today?

During the years of the Covid pandemic, IT in general evolved massively, moving many services to be more online, remote and accessible. However, this also created greater challenges for IT security teams, in terms of the opportunities for attack and the difficulties of defending remotely.

Remote work: working from home led to a host of new cyber security challenges. Previously, cyber security would have been handled primarily by either an in-house IT team, or a remote MSP (like us), with the team having significant access and control over the business’ IT systems.

Thanks to lockdown though, employees were using unsecured Wi-Fi and personal devices, with no guarantee that they had the same level of cyber security. To respond to this, zero trust security models were introduced, endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools were implemented, and multi-factor authentication all became standard, to add additional layers of security to devices and networks, even while working remotely.

Today, these advances are still relevant with so many businesses working hybrid or remotely. Zero trust in particular is a growing mindset, as it is becoming increasingly evident that cyber security threats can come from anywhere, and extreme vigilance is the only way to prevent them.

Cyber threats: cyber criminals used the uncertainly of the pandemic to prey on people who were scared or confused. Phishing, ransomware and social engineering attacks spiked as people were online more and didn’t have the same level of awareness that they may have done in an office environment.

As a result, cyber security training became a must for organisations, so that these attacks could be avoided. Threat detection and response also had to evolve, with AI helping to spot threats in real time.

All of these features are just as relevant now as they were in 2020. Training in cyber security, focusing on phishing emails, is vital, as the complexity and quantity of attacks have only evolved since then. The best cyber defence is awareness: the more that employees know, the more likely a breach can be avoided!

Security as a priority: before the pandemic, cyber security was often an afterthought, with many businesses just using basic antivirus software but not much else. However, as discussed, threats increased over lockdown and it inspired organisations to finally take modern cyber security more seriously.

Now, cyber security is a priority for businesses, as they have seen the devastating impact that breaches can have. There is now more investment in security services, helping organisations to keep up with bad actors.

Clearly Covid changed the way in which cyber security worked as was implemented: but what other improvements did the pandemic inspire? Find out in part 2 of our article, coming soon!

In the meantime, if you want to know how your organisation could benefit from features like EDR or detailed staff training, talk to Interfuture Security.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/SVNEoIIpM2w