A survey of 280 organisations has found that risks of financial crime and cyber attack are on the rise due to remote working.
The survey answered by the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland (ACOI) members with responsibility for compliance in large organisations throughout the country looked at the risks posed by remote working to organisational data breaches, financial cyber-crime, and compliance issues.
Michael Kavanagh, CEO of the ACOI, said “While most organisations (54%) report that working from home does not pose any greater risk when it comes to data breaches and GDPR, 76% say this new way of working does actually present new challenges when it comes to compliance, and 66% say it has increased the risk of cyber financial crime and attack.
“Cybercriminals have adapted their methods to take advantage of the huge increase in remote working systems during the pandemic. The trends towards increasingly networked technologies and cloud computing have accelerated typical financial cybercrime activities such as fraudulent emails, phishing attempts, ransomware attacks, and attempts to steal financial account and payment card details and information.”
“That 66% of respondents agree that remote working has increased the risk of financial crime and cyberattack – with 14% feeling it has increased the risks considerably – attests to the threat that cyber-criminals pose in our rapidly changing operational environments. While this figure is down 15% on last year’s result of 81%, it still represents significant threat to the integrity and security of firms who employee staff on a remote working basis,” Mr Kavanagh said.
