Cloud services in France saw cyberattacks increase by 630% during the first year of the pandemic, according to after people were forced to work from home, according to one data security expert.
François Esnol-Feugeas, CEO of French company Oxibox, told Euronews that the decision to impose mandatory teleworking came at a cost.
“We saw cyberattacks increase by 630% during 2020 on public clouds and on enterprise clouds, which showed that attackers were taking advantage of the new situation,” Esnol-Feugeas said.
One problem though is that not all of Europe has the same online coverage…And not all professions can rely solely on remote working.
But can the Commission impose standard measures across Europe?
Eric Mamer, EC Spokesperson says: “There is no such thing as EU rules on teleworking, as you know, the health safety measures are responsability of the member states”.
The pandemic has thrust Europe and the world into an entirely new situation.
The question now is – should data security be sacrificed in the name of public health?
François Esnol-Feugeas says: “The last challenge is the identification of the remote worker, actually. The ability to control the identity and who accesses the IT systems remotely,”
The Commission announced plans last year for a European Digital Identity which will be available to all EU citizens.
The idea is for Member States to offer citizens and businesses digital wallets that will be linked to their national identities with proof of other documents, like a driving license.
These wallets would in theory be provided by public authorities or private entities.
But this is still some way off and it remains to be seen if European countries will come around to this idea or not.
