While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has slowed many things down, the increase in cybersecurity threats is not one of them. In fact, the pandemic, and all of the personal medical data needed to fight it, has opened up a new front for hackers. According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, cyberattacks on the country’s hospitals and other parts of its health care infrastructure are on the rise. Across the Atlantic Ocean, meanwhile, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton called on major corporations to continue to be wary of security threats, even as they handle the other challenges of the COVID-era economy, according to CNBC. Both issues lay clear the need for organizations in all industries to review their cybersecurity practices, including their use of unsafe Java code. A terminal emulation solution from Inventu can be a part of the solution.
Investing in health care security
About a third of all cyberattacks that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was called on for support were against the health care sector or related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recap of the organization’s annual report by ZDNet. In all, this amounted to about 200 pandemic-related cyber incidents on record.
As a part of their efforts to deflect potential threats to the health care system, the NCSC has searched for suspicious activity on 1.4 million National Health Service (NHS) endpoints and scanned over one million NHS IP addresses. As the taxpayer funded healthcare option of the U.K., the NHS has been one of the prime targets for cybercriminals during the pandemic.
“The second half of the year for us, as it has for everyone else, has been dominated by the response to COVID …What we’ve done as an organization is really pivot towards the health sector to try and give them the best support we can in thinking about their cyber defense to let them focus on responding to the pandemic,” said NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron.
These cyberattacks come at a time when Britain, like every other country in the world, is calling upon its health care system to do more than ever. Over the last few months, as the weather has gotten colder and more of daily life has returned indoors, cases of COVID-19 have skyrocketed. On Nov. 1, 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a four-week lockdown in an attempt to get the virus back under control and save lives, according to the BBC. Other countries in Europe, and around the world, have taken similar paths, with more expected to follow.
A warning to corporations
In the U.S., meanwhile, fears about rising COVID-19 cases and cybersecurity are also intertwined. On Nov. 2 Security Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, in a television appearance on CNBC, implored corporations and investment bankers to show continued vigilance against cybersecurity threats.
“Cyber risks have not gone away with the unfortunate, unforeseen risks we’ve faced with COVID-19 and other uncertainties in our economy … They’re still there, and they’re there more than ever,” said Clayton.
In his appearance, Clayton specifically noted an increase in ransomware attacks and credential compromises. Amongst the targets that Clayton was concerned about were broker-dealers, investment advisers and investment companies, according to CNBC. One of the most common type of credential compromises reported in recent months was an attack called “credential stuffing,” in which hackers steal client login credentials to access sensitive information.
Clayton’s warning comes as cyberattacks are on the rise against companies in a variety of sectors. According to CNBC, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has put out 30 different warnings about threats to corporations, smaller businesses and consumers.
The shortcomings of Java Terminal Emulators
Whether you are protecting medical, financial, personal or any other form of data, a strong cybersecurity infrastructure is essential. One of the easiest and most important ways to shore up your network is by getting rid of unsecured, obsolete Java Terminal Emulators. While Java is a building block of many important programs, its widespread use means that its vulnerabilities are well known by hackers and easy to exploit. Luckily, a pure HTML and Javascript terminal emulation tool can help you remove Java from the equation, without requiring you to get rid of the critical mainframe programs that keep your organization running.
Identity, Security and Seamless Web Terminal Emulation
Of paramount importance is to implement safe authentication and identification frameworks that provide multi-factor authentication and strong encryption. Here at the Inventu Corporation, we equip organizations of all sizes with a revolutionary terminal emulation tool called Inventu Viewer+, a high performance emulation solution that is built with C at its core. This solution integrates with SAML 2.0 and other identity frameworks and allows organizations to provide reliable and safe mainframe access using clean HTML and JavaScript hosted on secure Windows servers. All in all, Inventu Viewer+ supports streamlined IT modernization and meets employer and staff expectations in a way that feels both familiar and simple. Contact us today or review our extensive product catalog to see how Inventu can help you rid your network of obsolete terminal emulators with a web server product built over decades in the ever-reliable C language.