How cyber security risks have changed in a post-pandemic world
The Wellcome Trust has seen changing threats since the Covid-19 pandemic and other organizations can learn from these challenging experiences
The Wellcome Trust, a UK-based international medical research charity, rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic. A bigger public profile in the media led to more targeted cyber-security breaches, especially ransomware attacks. For the trust, the high number of valuable investments, along with the work they do with international partners, increased the exposure to risk.
Along with countless businesses worldwide, the Wellcome Trust has become more digitized in its operations and more employees than ever are working remotely, which has added extra layers of cyber security risk. Jack Hayward, the trust’s head of information security, said this means the landscape of cyber-attacks has definitely changed post-pandemic.
The scale and prevalence of ransomware attacks has increased, with Hayward describing it as “a lucrative market”. In his presentation, he shared a science-based approach to mitigating the risks in a changed world, following a “dramatic two years” for IT professionals.
