Explosive cybercriminal activity in 2020 will persist in 2021

There have been an estimated 4,000 cyberattacks in the United States every day since the pandemic started, according to MonsterCloud. (Photo: Dmytro Tyshchenko for Shutterstock.com)

The nearly universal transition to a full-time remote workforce through the COVID-19 pandemic exponentially increased the ‘attack surface’ for cybercriminals in 2020.

According to a new report from Guidewire, FBI cybercrime reports quadrupled during the first phase of the pandemic. Phishing attacks spiked 350%, and ransomware demands exploded in 2020 as hackers took advantage of the pandemic and deployed increasingly sophisticated tactics against individuals, businesses, hospitals, and schools.