• Over 501TPTP3T of companies in Romania have been defrauded in the last year and few of them are making strategies to secure their processes

• Companies more vulnerable since employees work from home

• In the US, security experts say the number of internet frauds will be higher than after the 2008 economic crisis

The restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic have challenged businesses to do business and sent millions of employees working from home. Not all companies were prepared to run their operations remotely, so the vast majority were focused on just making things work, without regard to cybersecurity. Cybersecurity experts say Romanian businesses are highly vulnerable and at risk of being defrauded.  

"In Romania, working from home has not been a widespread option among non-IT companies. The main task of internal IT departments has been to make these networks work, the security of these VPNs set up ad-hoc, being put on the back burner. These networks need to be reconfigured for a high level of Security." says Gabriel Zgunea, CEO Corporate Intelligence Agency.

The Romanian business environment does not have a well-developed culture of prevention, say experts, so many businesses do not make risk plans or process security strategies.

 Global cybersecurity experts say the census generated by COVID-19 will generate more fraud than the 2008 economic crisis.

"Economic logic tells us that fraud thrives when the economy is working, grows in times of crisis and peaks when panic sets in. The growing number of poorly secured networks are consistent sources of information and potential internet fraud for hackers." says Gabriel Zgunea, CEO Corporate Intelligence Agency.  

How can you secure your processes and your business?

• It assesses very strictly the composition and performance of the internal control, security and anti-fraud departments.

• Analyzes out-of-the-box the company's internal processes and procedures from a security point of view

• Allocate additional resources to know your client/ know your customer activities.

• Use specialized competitive and market intelligence services to develop strategies.