It’s the end of October, and we’re now in the midst of Halloween season. During a busy time that includes taking the kids out trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, or watching seasonally appropriate scary movies, it can be easy to lose track over concerns about security — both physical and cyber.
Some scary cybersecurity statistics
The conclusion of Halloween brings the end of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but that doesn’t mean your vigilance about potential cybersecurity threats should stop. Instead, it should carry through all year, every year.
For Halloween, Pax8 Blog published an overview of cybersecurity threats that go bump in the night. Here’s a look at some of the statistics they scared up:
Hacks have a long lifecycle — IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report found it took an average of 212 days to detect a cyber breach as well as 75 days to contain it. They found that the total lifecycle of a hack is 287 days. To illustrate this point further, they explain that if a company had been breached by hackers on January 1, 2021, it would take until October 15 to be contained.
An escalation of ransomware attacks — They also point to the scary statistic that ransomware attacks increased by 185 percent in the United States for the first six months of 2021. In the United Kingdom it was 144 percent, according to data from SonicWall.
A lot of data failed to be restored — Even bleaker, Sophos found that just 65 percent of data was restored after a company paid ransom to cybercriminals following a ransomware attack.
Remote workers are ill-equipped for hackers’ attacks — In its State of the Phish Report, Proofpoint found 70 percent of organizations fail to institute best cybersecurity practices in remote worker trainings. This is a particularly big oversight given the rush to embrace remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What all of these disturbing, worrying statistics do is offer a reminder that it’s crucial to practice proper cybersecurity hygiene. Keep passwords private and safe, utilize multi-factor authentication, and do not transmit private and sensitive data over public Wi-Fi or shared computer connections. Similarly, be wary of social media scams— and not just during Halloween. Never give your private information to a third party.
Trick-or-treat season is a time to be vigilant about physical safety and security, too
This time of year, reminders about safety extend beyond the cyber world.
If you and your family are out and about trick-or-treating on October 31, be vigilant about physical safety, too. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh offers some Halloween-specific safety instructions for your children. This includes making sure all children have adult supervision when they are out for Halloween, avoid sharp objects and costume accessories, visit familiar neighborhoods to collect candy, and wash all fruit and inspect exactly what kind of food items are being placed in your kids’ trick-or-treat bags.
This year also poses unique safety concerns due to COVID-19. Healthychildren.org outlines recommendations for safely enjoying the spooky holiday during the pandemic. Chief among them — focus on outdoor activities. While we are in a better place with COVID-19 than we were a year ago, congregating in large groups of strangers still poses risks. If you are concerned about COVID-19 transmission — either for yourself, your children, or your family at large — consider outdoor activities and bring a protective face mask if you are planning on going inside. Also, make sure you bring some hand sanitizer along the way.
While Halloween can be a fun time of year, make sure you celebrate safely. Always keep both your physical and digital safety at the front of your mind.