2020 UK Lockdown Cyber Narratives: the Secure, the Insecure and the Worrying

TL;DR

This paper examines UK lockdown cyber narratives during COVID-19, highlighting security challenges, communication failures, and the importance of contingency planning for organizations in pandemic scenarios.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of security and communication issues faced by organizations during the UK lockdown and emphasizes the need for pre-pandemic contingency planning.

Findings

Insecure technology usage increased during lockdown.

Communication failures heightened uncertainty and anxiety.

Organizations lacked adequate contingency plans.

Abstract

On the 23rd March 2020, the UK entered a period of lockdown in the face of a deadly pandemic. While some were unable to work from home, many organisations were forced to move their activities online. Here, we discuss the technologies they used, from a privacy and security perspective. We also mention the communication failures that have exacerbated uncertainty and anxiety during the crisis. An organisation could be driven to move their activities online by a range of disasters, of which a global pandemic is only one. We seek, in this paper, to highlight the need for organisations to have contingency plans in place for this kind of eventuality. The insecure usages and poor communications we highlight are a symptom of a lack of advance pre-pandemic planning. We hope that this paper will help organisations to plan more effectively for the future.