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Cybersecurity During COVD-19

A computer and lock.

Becca Romine
April 20, 2020

The pandemic hasn’t stymied bad actors from attempting to infiltrate software and operating systems. A UNC expert on cybersecurity says the more things change the more they stay the same when it comes to defending against malicious attacks.

“This is not the time to let our guard down,” said Burkhard Englert, dean of the College of Natural and Health Sciences. “The assumption is hackers have more time on their hands, and everything we are doing is online now.”

Englert has watched the field of cybersecurity evolve, teaching computer information sciences in the infancy of cybersecurity and hiring some of the first faculty to teach courses. Then, it was still a new frontier, as software developments generally outpaced and overshadowed the “crucial” work to address security.

For more information on how to stay safe during the pandemic, be sure to check out this story