{"id":22386,"date":"2021-03-24T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/?p=22386"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:57:59","slug":"remote-workers-in-the-crosshairs-mimecast-publishes-new-report-detailing-threat-actor-attacks-during-the-year-of-social-distancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/remote-workers-in-the-crosshairs-mimecast-publishes-new-report-detailing-threat-actor-attacks-during-the-year-of-social-distancing\/","title":{"rendered":"Remote Workers in the Crosshairs: Mimecast Publishes New Report Detailing Threat Actor Attacks During \u201cThe Year of Social Distancing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Company researchers report a 48% rise in threat volume in the first year of the pandemic; Threat actor attack volume mirrors spiking COVID-19 infection rates in April and October 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubai, UAE \u2013 March 24, 2021 –\u00a0<\/strong>Mimecast Limited<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(NASDAQ: MIME), the leading email security and cyber resilience company, today announced the publication of its new\u00a0\u201cThe Year of Social Distancing\u201d\u00a0global report. Drawing on data from the Mimecast threat intelligence team, the report details how threat actors targeted remote workers during the first year of the pandemic, March 2020 \u2013 February 2021. The report describes how to attack volume surged by 48% during the first year of the pandemic, with sudden increases in the volume corresponding to spikes in COVID-19 infection rates in April and October 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThreat actors took advantage of the pandemic to launch a torrent of COVID-19-themed social engineering attacks, understanding that people were under stress working in the home environment, and thus more likely to be deceived and make mistakes,\u201d said Josh Douglas, vice president, product management at Mimecast. \u201cThe second part of that strategy was to \u2018flood the zone\u2019 in security operations centers. They knew analysts would also be stressed and stretched thin, so overwhelming them with a high volume of threats would increase the likelihood of their attacks slipping through defenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also examines the cyber habits of at-home workers, which revealed some alarming facts, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n