The data underscores that as companies adapted to the realities of the pandemic, attackers sought out weaknesses exposed by the new work arrangements, says Michael Covington, vice president at Wandera. Most organizations really had to focus on keeping people being productive, and that meant you had to peel back the policies, and just make it easier for people to get into their applications, to use their devices, and feel empowered, because IT wasn t available to physically go to workers and help them out, Covington says.
The shift in tactics allowed attackers to shift the way they tried to infect those workers in order to catch them when they were at their least vigilant.