“Coronavirus is officially declared as a pandemic“
The entire world is now striving hard to defend the systemic threats posed by COVID-19, but two unseen groups of people are poised to capitalize on the crisis:
Hackers and hand sanitizer vendors.
While the latter group is at least attempting to aid stop the spread of the deadly disease, the bad actors are preying on the uncertainty of the crisis. They are making use of a variety of malicious campaigns, including email spam, malware, BEC, and ransomware, to penetrate systemic defenses amidst the worst scenario.
As the afflicted number of people continue to surge each day, such campaigns as a lure likewise increase. So, get clued up about things going around and know how best you can protect yourself, your colleagues, and your organization.
HHS Hacked!
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was hit with a cyberattack, recently.
The attack, which involved overloading the HHS services with millions of hits over several hours, reportedly aimed to slow the agency down and spread misinformation among the public.
Following the compromise, the cyber attackers circulated a false claim that the US government had planned to announce a nationwide lockdown. Finally, the National Security Council quashed through a tweet, the erroneous rumor that President Trump is going to announce a two-week quarantine for the whole country.
Hacking Mayhem – Know The Trends
During the recent weeks, the coronavirus pandemic and its effects are the most-searched-for items on the search engine. The cybercriminals exploited these quests in various ways to scam unsuspecting users and phish sensitive information.
The recent email campaign by cybercriminals with the title “Singapore Specialist: CoronaVirus Safety Measure” is definitely no different from those we have seen in many of the past attacks. But, the fact that people might be more tempted right now than ever, to click on such links makes it more dangerous.
Many such phishing attacks, which purport to come from the Center for Disease Control, are making things get much worse.
Worries about the lethal virus have led to a rush in demand for the dashboards and maps to help keep track of the virus spread. This is what the hackers are making use of now. Attackers are ready with a new trick of designing maps/websites related to coronavirus; opening these will let the attackers steal the users’ data, passwords, credit cards, and other sensitive information.
Likewise, a group of Chinese hackers uses coronavirus themes to target entities in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan. These lures were found to come as an authorized statement from political leaders or advice from any official sources, making people open it to read, finally letting the data slurping spyware enter the system.
Espionage groups associated with China, North Korea, and Russia are also believed to target organizations in nearby countries using the COVID-19 theme.
Prevent Not Just The Virus, But The Spams
As more and more companies are allowing their employees to work from home day by day as a precaution to withstand this backdrop, employers and employees need to follow specific essential strategies to protect themselves as well as confidential company information. Here are a few of the necessary security practices you need to follow now:
- Subscribe to the government health authorities page for updates of coronavirus. Believe only information from authorized sources, and that too, only after googling.
- Beware of spam mails. Don’t open unknown emails or links, even if it shows that it is from an authorized source. Check on the internet whether these specific organizations in mail exist and whether they send these details to people.
- Mark spam messages as junk mail to make it out of the inbox.
- Disconnect the internet whenever you are not using the system.
- Make sure you follow the up-to-date cybersecurity measures.
And if you run a business, make sure you…
- Educate your workers with new trends in hacking.
- Frequently check your server security.
- Seek assistance from an experienced cybersecurity company.
Experts at Cybernetic Global Intelligence (CGI) – an accredited PCI DSS QSA Cybersecurity Company is available at the drop of a hat. Call us on 1300 292 376 or drop a mail to Contact@cybernetic-gi.com, for assistance.