Cybercriminals Are Seeing the Pandemic as a Huge Business Opportunity
Food delivery services and Netflix are not the only ones profiting from the coronavirus outbreak. It has also been a bonanza for cybercriminals, seeking to cash in on the anxiety and confusion resulting from COVID-19. Photon, the research arm of my company, has undertaken a deep dive into the shadowy, cyber world of those whose work involves abusing others online through trickery, extortion, fraud, and theft. Here is some of what we found as well as ways that you can mitigate the threat:
Crappy apps
As early as January, phishing emails containing phony COVID-19 public health warnings were circulating in Japan. They used the coronavirus scare as its email campaign hook. Recipients were warned about the virus’ rapid spread and instructed to download an attached notice that allegedly contained preventive measures. In fact, when downloaded, it installed Emotet, a form of malware used to deploy ransomware and other types of malicious software that steal user credentials, browser history, and sensitive documents. That data can then be used to send spam to other email accounts.
Other forms of cyberattack, including a denial of service attack against the U.S. Department of Health and Human services on March 15, and a fraudulent website distributing a new variant of ransomware named “CoronaVirus” identified a few days later, also occurred. And misleading mobile apps began to proliferate. Altogether, we uncovered 376 Android mobile apps related to COVID-19. Many of them, it turned out, were benign. But others contained spyware to collect sensitive user data and insisted on receiving dangerous permissions.
We discovered multiple apps that demanded access to perform account authentication, to capture and collect photos, to receive ..
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