Cybersecurity Attacks and Vulnerabilities During COVID-19

As a result of quick transformation to digitalization for providing the employees teleworking/home office services with the capabilities to access company resources from outside the company over Internet using remote desktop and virtual private network (VPN) applications and the increase in digital activity during COVID-19 such as the usage of audio/video conferencing applications, many businesses have been victims of cyber attacks. This paper investigates whether there was an increase in the frequency of cyber attacks during COVID-19. It also identifies the motivations for such attacks in light of software/hardware/system vulnerabilities. Following this research, we also categorize vulnerabilities and develop a taxonomy. Such a taxonomy helped to identify the type of attacks on their frequency and their impact. To do that, we developed a research methodology to collect attack and vulnerability information from the selected databases. Using relevant key words, we developed the taxonomy that led us to create insightful information to answer the research questions that are thoroughly analyzed and presented accordingly. This work also recommended a list of mitigation measures that can be considered in the future to prepare the industry for a similar pandemic including establishing and maintaining a Information Security Management System (ISMS) by following relevant standards (ISO/SAE 2700x, BSI-Standards 200-x, SMEs: CISIS12®). © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Information and Educational Environments

The paper aims to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of the information and educational environment of the university. The research relevance is due to the urgent nature of the transition of universities to the use of information and educational environments. This must be done in full for implementing educational programs, as well as intermediate and final certification, in a remote form. In the paper, we have analyzed changes in the regulatory legal acts of universities from the top ten ranking of digital activities in the Russian Federation in connection with the measures taken to counter the coronavirus infection. More than that, we have surveyed teachers and students of the Kutafin Moscow State Law University (Moscow, Russia) to identify the difficulties teachers and students faced when switching to a distance-learning format. The study has made it possible to conclude about the positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing the information and educational environment of the leading universities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, we have identified problems manifesting themselves in a sharp and unprepared transition to a complete distance learning format using the information and educational environment of the university. Among these difficulties, we should note the lack of digital literacy of teachers, the digital divide, and problems with software and hardware. When eliminating the identified shortcomings, many students and teachers admit learning certain disciplines and courses in a distance form in the future using the information and educational environment of the university. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

At-Home Anthropology: A Recipe for Collaboration

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the way many schools and museums operate. Using a case study of a collection of digital resources for kids and families, the authors share their recipe for successful collaborations both in and outside of their museum. With a practitioner focus, the authors highlight the importance of not forgetting the lessons of pandemic successes in organizations during the return to in-person work.

European Libraries and Their Virtual Users: How the Pandemic Affected Digital Production and Participation

In the present article, we analyse the digital activity and behaviour of the European National Libraries and of their users on the most important social media, namely Facebook and Instagram, in a time window that covers the period before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. This activity was carried out within the framework of the Horizon 2020 European inDICEs project1 which aims to support libraries, museums and archives in developing digital strategies to experiment with engagement strategies driven by digital collections. The project is developing an Open Observatory, where GLAM professionals as well as creative industries, policy makers and researchers can find and analyse data on digital heritage accessibility and reuse, and explore case studies on novel value chains. In the article we present a specific use case based on National Libraries, which in the cultural heritage sector are among the most active institutions in digital services policies. Our aim is to understand how the Covid 19 pandemic has impacted the sector. After monitoring the National Libraries quantitative and qualitative level of digital activity in correlation with the forced wave of digitization led by the social-distancing policies, we have given a synthetic overview of the main findings, which regard, on one hand, a significant increase in online activities and followers of the social media pages in correspondence to the lockdown periods;on the other hand, we have observed passive participation of their users, with whom the institutions have shown they are unable to establish an active relationship, missing the chance to exploit the possibilities that the digital platforms can offer in terms of co-creation processes, digital community empowerment, development of new soft skills and shared knowledge resources. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

Adoption of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App Among Older Internet Users in Finland

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created an unequal need for limiting physical contacts and tracing possible exposures to a novel coronavirus. Smartphone-based contact tracing applications (CTAs) were presented as a vehicle for stopping virus transmission chains and supporting the work of contact tracing teams. In this study, older adults’ adoption of a CTA was studied using socioeconomic background factors, satisfaction with health, and the measure of digital activity as predictors. The data were drawn from a larger questionnaire survey targeted at older internet users. A subsample of older Finnish internet users (N = 723) was analyzed using a logistic regression model. Results showed that older internet users had widely adopted the Finnish CTA called Koronavilkku irrespective of demographic background factors, level of education, and self-assessed satisfaction with health. Besides high income and retirement status, digital activity measured through the breadth of mobile phone features used and the use of an online symptom checker increased the likelihood of having the CTA installed on a smartphone. The results of the study lend themselves to be used for future epidemics and other occasions that require a real-time and/or retrospective tracing of people and their physical encounters. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

European Museums: Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, European museums were required to close their doors to the public for several times, which made it difficult for them to fulfill their mission, and at the same time, it caused them significant financial losses. Nevertheless, European museums quickly adapted to the current situation, changing their staff tasks and switching to online communication with their audience, doing the best they could with the resources they had. The main aims of this study are to investigate and analyze changes in the work of European museums during the COVID-19 pandemic cri-sis, especially during the periods of lockdowns, and the main research question focuses on what we can learn from the experience in order to be more ready to face future challenges. The research is based on content analysis, but two focus group surveys were also conducted. © 2021, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH. All rights reserved.