While many security firms have warned that massive spam campaigns employing coronavirus-themed messages in an attempt to fool potential victims into parting with their credentials, the incidence of COVID-19-specific phishing attacks is no higher than before the pandemic, according to a new report.
Lastline researchers found that 84% of newly registered domains did not have any content, while about 14% of domains led to a questionable landing page — or "gray zone" — that tried to sell counterfeit goods or questionable coronavirus-related products. Only 2.4% of sites were actually phishing for specific information from the victims, and only four campaigns, consisting of less than 800 URLs, were specifically designed to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.
While cybercriminals are trying to cash in on people's coronavirus concerns, the specific use of coronavirus-specific information are lures to convince people to click on links and attempts at fraud or the sale of counterfeit goods, says Roman Vasilenko, engineering manager of Lastline's Anti-Malware Group.
"The volume of attacks using the topic of COVID-19 did not change," he says. "Overall, phishing grew very considerably in March and then in April — it has basically doubled according to our numbers. But the targets of those landing pages — Bank of America and Chase Bank are the top ones — remain the same as before."
Domain Spike
Over the past two months, concerns have grown that cyberattackers were turning people's fear of the coronavirus into cybercriminal attacks. Coronavirus-related domain registrations skyrocketed, topping 2,000 domains a day in late ..
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