From 2019 to 2020, the U.S. experienced a 311% increase in ransomware attacks, with victims paying out a total of $350 million. Experts believe one important contributing factor for this kind of attack is the number of employees working from home. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the country to work remotely, creating the perfect storm for hackers.
“When you are working from home, you are not behind the castle walls anymore,” said John Hammond, a cybersecurity researcher at the security firm Huntress. “You are working with your own devices, away from the safe perimeter of corporate networks.”
According to the Consumer Sentinel Network, reports of identity theft more than doubled from 650,000 in 2019 to nearly 1.4 million in 2020.