This year proved working remotely is beneficial but still poses great risk to organizations as employees are not well versed with security awareness.

This year has been very different from what Kaspersky is used to and it has come with a lot of learnings. Kaspersky were able to seamlessly shift to remote working and continued to deliver cybersecurity to clients remotely. Kaspersky were also able to maintain growth business and continue to protect our customers regardless of external factors.

Kaspersky were able to successfully host all of its events online. For example, the annual Security Analyst Summit went online for the first time this year. Combined with sponsorships and own events, Kaspersky have been able to successfully carry out virtual events that have reached over a thousand people in the region over the last few months.

Additionally, there were several industries that were hit hard during the pandemic – particularly the healthcare industry. To support healthcare institutions Kaspersky offered free licenses to keep them safe from cyber threats during this critical time.

This year has proved that it is quite beneficial to work remotely but since working remotely poses a bigger security risk to organizations, it is important for employees to be well versed with security awareness. Kaspersky have noticed that the need for cyber education is now more important than before especially if organizations decided to work from home more often.

Another challenge that Kaspersky have seen this year has been planning. Planning ahead proved to be a difficult task for this year because of all its uncertainty. Kaspersky did not face this issue alone, but so did clients and customers.

Kaspersky saw a spike in digital sales this year, Kaspersky may attribute this spike to the fact that most people had to stay home and naturally had to shift all their tasks online, from shopping, to banking to streaming. Kaspersky believe this e-commerce surge was a big motive for users to invest in cybersecurity solutions to protect themselves.

This year has proven to be exceptionally different than what Kaspersky is used to or what Kaspersky has expected, however, it came with great learnings. Kaspersky was able to grow its business and continue to protect our customers regardless of external factors. Another great learning is the crucial role of cyber awareness amongst businesses.

This year proved that while working remotely is beneficial it still poses a great risk to organizations as most employees are not well versed with security awareness. For that, Kaspersky have executed educational initiatives both globally and regionally to try and elevate the level of cyber awareness and readiness amongst employees and users. For instance, Kaspersky currently offer various free courses and certificates on how to stay safe online.