Security outfit Sophos noted how security challenges during the pandemic offered IT teams a unique opportunity to build their cybersecurity expertise.
In a glass half full report entitled he IT Security Team: 2021 and Beyond, Sophos noted that IT teams faced a rise in cyberattacks (82 percent) and a heavier security workload (84 percent) over the course of 2020 strengthened their security skills and knowledge. Despite the challenges created by the pandemic, 52 percent of the IT teams surveyed said team morale increased during 2020.
The increase in cyberattacks during the pandemic impacted IT security skills across all industry sectors covered in the survey, including education (83 percent), retail (85 percent) and healthcare (80 percent).
Sophos principal research scientist Chester Wisniewski said: “IT professionals played a vital role in helping organizations to keep going despite the restrictions and limitations necessitated by COVID-19. Among other things, they enabled education institutions to move learning online, retailers to switch to online transactions, healthcare organizations to deliver digital services and care under incredibly tough circumstances, and ensured public entities could continue to provide essential services.
“Much of this will have been done at high speed, with limited equipment and resources available and while facing a rising tide of cyberattacks against the network, endpoints and employees. To say things were probably pretty stressful for most IT teams is an understatement.
“However, the survey shows that in many cases these challenges have created not just more highly skilled, but more motivated IT teams, ready to embrace an ambitious future. As a growing number of countries are able to start planning for life beyond pandemic restrictions, we have an excellent opportunity to implement new IT and security policies, adopt more secure modern tools to manage employees and operations beyond the IT perimeter, build expert teams that blend in-house and out-sourced talent, and introduce security platforms that combine intelligent automation with human threat hunting expertise. There is no going back. The future may be just as unprecedented as the past.”
The report found that facing challenges together boosted team morale. IT team morale also improved for many teams. More than half of the IT teams surveyed said team morale increased over the course of 2020. In many cases, morale appeared to increase in line with heavier workload and more intense attacks. For instance, ransomware victims were considerably more likely to have experienced an increase in team morale than those that weren’t hit
