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No one has been hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than small businesses. In New York, 55% of small businesses here shut down and employment fell by 40%. Many big businesses have closed down as well, but the outlook for small businesses is grimmer because they have fewer resources than large corporations.

Everyone who uses the internet is exposed to cyberthreats, which is unfortunate because we practically live online. We express ourselves on social media, communicate with family and colleagues via email and messaging apps, and even operate web-enabled gadgets also known as Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, business email compromise (BEC) has been one of the most pervasive forms of cybercrimes. In fact, from 2013 to 2019, there were more than 70,000 victims of BEC scams worldwide.

According to the FBI, some of the most recent examples of pandemic-related BEC scams capitalize on coronavirus-related situations and reasons to ask for payments and change standard payment methods.

The coronavirus outbreak has driven businesses in New York and all over the world to implement remote work setups in order to keep operations afloat. And because face-to-face communication isn’t always viable in this new arrangement, employees are using technology tools to reach out to vendors and clients, exchange information with their peers, and collaborate with their team.

As if a health pandemic is not causing enough chaos for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in New York to deal with, phishers are also taking advantage of weak IT security and poor cybersecurity habits to unleash different kinds of COVID-19-themed scams.

In today’s climate, more and more companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses, are turning to managed IT services providers (MSPs) for solutions to their IT problems. MSPs prove cost-effective and are often quicker than by-the-hour IT services providers, which send agents physically on-site in the event of an issue.

As a business owner today, you are now facing unprecedented challenges to help deal with the coronavirus pandemic. You are asked to self-isolate and practice social distancing to “flatten the curve.” You are asked to allow your employees to work from home to reduce possible exposure and slow the spread of COVID-19.

These are all reasonable requests.

In a matter of just a few short weeks, we have gone from living how we’ve always lived to changing just about everything we do. Schools are out for weeks if not months. Cruises have stopped sailing, and air transportation may be next. Bars and restaurants are closing, sporting events are nonexistent and so many people are now unemployed.

The world is slowing down during this COVID-19 pandemic. Wall Street is being hit hard. People are no longer going out. We’re told to quarantine or self-isolate and not engage in groups.

You can bet there’s one group that’s not slowing down at all.

If you run a business that has any sort of reliance on computers or computer systems, you’ll have worried about your vulnerability to parties with insidious intent. More than the threat of online viruses or hackers tapping into your system remotely from a laptop like you see in the movies, phishing attacks are by far the biggest threat to small- and medium-sized businesses.