Director of Information Security at Betsson Group, Matthew Sciberras, has cautioned against companies taking “sudden shortcuts” in order to quickly accommodate remote working for its workforce.

Malta, along with Europe, is battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools have been shut for one week while many companies are encouraging staff to work from home, where possible.

For many companies, this means providing server access, permissions to print from home and a host of other measures to maintain business continuity, despite relaxing security measures.

“I can't stop thinking about what a haven it is right now for hackers. Companies taking sudden shortcuts to have systems available remotely at the expense of security, RDP connections open to the outside world, rushed decisions to keep up with operations,” Mr Sciberras said.

“I ask all companies to stop and think. Measure your risks and be aware of what you are doing. COVID-19 is bad but losing all your data is also catastrophic,” he cautioned.

Betsson Group has been headquartered in Malta since 2004 and today employs over 900 people on the island, across central functions such as HR, Legal and Finance, Customer Service, Odds Compiling, Digital Marketing and Technology. It has two offices on the island, located in Ta’ Xbiex and a new space in St Julian’s.

The company has offices in Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Georgia and Sweden.