Watch out! Phishing attacks around coronavirus spike by over 600%
What's the story
As people continue to worry about the novel coronavirus pandemic, hackers are using their fears to carry out sophisticated phishing attacks spreading dangerous malware/ransomware.
We had already reported a few such scams, but a new study has shown that the number of attacks revolving around the deadly disease has spiked by over 600% since the end of February.
Here's all about it.
Study
Sudden spike in email phishing
Barracuda Networks, a US-based security company, detected and analyzed several spear-phishing email attacks and found a humongous surge in those related to COVID-19 or the coronavirus causing it.
Specifically, between March 1 and 23, they found as many as 9,116 email attacks related to the virus, which is a significantly 667% more than the 1,188 attacks detected in February and 137 recorded in January.
Impact
This shows hackers are increasingly using coronavirus for attacks
The sudden surge in attacks indicates that hackers around the world are increasingly adopting to exploit the global health crisis to their advantage.
Not to mention, throughout March, when this spike was noted, the spread of coronavirus also exploded around the world.
It reached 1 lakh cases on March 6, 2 lakh on March 18, and crossed the 7 lakh mark on March 30.
Data
In all, over 4.6 lakh phishing attacks were recorded
The total number of phishing attacks - including the ones related to coronavirus - recorded by the security firm stood around 4.6 lakh.
Breakdown
Most coronavirus phishing attacks were typical scams
According to the breakdown given by Barracuda, 54% of the 9,000+ coronavirus-related attacks were typical scams designed to trick a person into giving away their data/money.
Apart from that, 34% were brand impersonation attacks, where you are fooled into believing that a legit company is messaging, 11% involved blackmailing the target, while a mere 1% were about business email compromise.
Information
Most of them were aimed at stealing passwords, finances
Notably, the malicious emails carried different payloads but their end goal was nearly the same - infect computers and then steal confidential information or money using them.
Reason
Hackers often exploit people's emotions to trick them
Hackers behind phishing attacks often try to exploit their target's emotions around a particular matter to trick them into opening a certain malicious attachment/link.
In this case, they are using the growing fears/uncertainties over coronavirus to trick the public.
For instance, in one attack noted by Barracuda, the scammer threatened to infect the target with coronavirus unless they pay a certain sum.
Information
Basic email hygiene can help you out
Although there is no way to stop these attacks, you can certainly follow some basic email practices, like being more careful while opening attachments/links and checking/verifying the sender's address, to protect your account from being compromised. Also, keep a reliable antivirus program for added security.