As businesses try to create a contactless experience amid the coronavirus pandemic, many have turned to QR codes. We’re seeing a lot of restaurants using them to display their menus on smartphones and on receipts for a contactless pay option. Within popular apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp, QR codes are an integral part of the user experience. Users can use codes to sign into their account, exchange contact information and make money transfer.

Hey, did you get that sketchy email? You know, the one from that malicious hacker trying to fool us into clicking on some malware? Boy, these criminals are relentless. Wait, what? You clicked on it? Uh-oh. A hypothetical scenario, but one that plays out every day in organizations across the globe — a very real scenario that provides a good reason to take a deep dive into the topic of email security. Here are some more good reasons.

Jason Ozin is the Group Information Security Officer at PIB, a fast-growing group of insurance advisory businesses in the UK, and Egnyte customer. Ozin is responsible for information security, cybersecurity, data governance, and compliance. PIB Group has grown rapidly since launching in 2015, building its team from 12 employees to over 1,400 today, through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.

For most businesses, the corporate boundaries have expanded over time. The traditional office has now morphed into a hub-and-spoke model with an increasing number of employees working remotely. This shift to remote work isn't new. Between 2005 and 2018, there was a 173% rise in the US remote workforce. The trend spiked in 2020 when 88% of organizations worldwide encouraged remote work to flatten the pandemic's spread.

The global pandemic has fueled a rapid digital transformation — and led to permanent shifts in cybersecurity. In a recent joint webinar with Bryan McAninch, senior solutions engineer at Splunk, and guest speaker Chris Kissel from IDC, "Sp(e)lunking Security with MITRE ATT&CK® featuring IDC Research," they shared seven overarching trends in cybersecurity for 2021. One notable, but foundational, trend mentioned was the need to understand risk.

The job of IT admins and IT security analysts are, without a doubt, some of the most important jobs in any company. When things are running smoothly, it is easy for everyone to forget they exist. However, the moment things go askew, everyone points fingers at them. IT security professionals are expected to know everything. Most of them are self-taught and have learned on-the-job. Over time, experience has turned them into battle-hardened soldiers.

We are certainly in unique times, with COVID driving digital transformation at an unprecedented pace, remote work appearing to be long term, and the specter of new threats looming over security professionals as they strategized how to protect a rapidly changing business and tech landscape. To use perhaps one too many cliches: it is the best of times, it is the worst of times, the times are a changin’, and a change will do you good. No really, it will.