E-Business
Hackers Preying on Fears of Covid-19, BBC
Security experts have said that a spike in email scams linked to coronavirus is the worst they have seen in years.
BBC reported that cyber-criminals are targeting individuals as well as industries, including aerospace, transport, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and insurance.
Phishing emails written in English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Turkish languages have been found.
Researchers at the cyber-security firm Proofpoint first noticed a strange email being sent to customers in February.
The message purported to be from a mysterious doctor claiming to have details about a vaccine being covered up by the Chinese and UK governments.
The firm said people who click on the attached document are taken to a spoof webpage designed to harvest login details. It says up to 200,000 of the emails are being sent at a time.
“We have seen 35-plus consecutive days of malicious coronavirus email campaigns, with many using fear to convince victims to click,” said Sherrod DeGrippo from the company’s threat research and detection team.
Proofpoint said three to four variations are launched each day.
“It’s obvious these campaigns are returning dividends for cyber-criminals,” said Ms DeGrippo.
The best way to see where a link will take you is to hover your mouse cursor over it to reveal the true web address. If it looks dodgy, don’t click.