Headlines in both mainstream and tech media are ablaze with cautionary tales and exclamation points: government and public sector websites are big security targets now -- and in the future. Germany’s defense minister, for example, has sounded the alarm: cybersecurity has to be a priority because attacks targeting governments will grow in frequency and severity and may even threaten global stability on several fronts: geopolitical, environment, technological and economic. 

During periods of fear and uncertainty, such as the COVID-19-dominated period we’re living in now, the risk for cyberattacks, such as DDoS attacks and costly data breaches increases exponentially. For some perspective, recent data shows (before coronavirus lockdowns and its unforeseen security risks hit):

The COVID-19 virus has attacked more than just health and people’s freedom of movement. It has also succeeded at undermining online security as more organizations and people rely on their online presence exclusively and turn to internet-based work, study, purchases and communications. The traffic spikes characteristic of the early part of the crisis have started to stabilize, meaning that uptime should also be stable for regular traffic, regardless of volume if you’re monitoring your availability and making provisions for redundancy. But irregular traffic booms, which are often the harbinger of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is entirely another creature.

During the COVID-19 crisis, cyberattacks, such as DDoS and ransomware/phishing attacks, have proliferated. These have been particularly acute in specific essential industries, such as healthcare, finance, energy, media and supply chain. The scale of these attacks can be devastating, as they can spread quickly and globally if undetected or unprevented.