It might look like an e-mail from a supervisor with an attachment on the new “work from home policy,” but it could be a cleverly designed scheme to hack into your network.
The abrupt move of millions of people to working remotely has sparked an unprecedented volume of attacks to trick people into giving up credentials to attackers, security researchers said.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Sherrod DeGrippo, head of threat research for the California-based security firm Proofpoint. “We are seeing campaigns with message volumes up to hundreds of thousands which are leveraging this coronavirus.”
The pandemic has created a perfect storm for cyberattacks, with millions of people working in unfamiliar, less secure circumstances, and eager for information about the virus and new organizational policies being implemented.
This opens up a new avenue for malicious actors using phishing e-mails or “social engineering” to gain access or steal sensitive information.
“When someone is working form their home it is a similar threat profile as at an airport or a Starbucks, you just don’t have that protection you might have in the workplace,” DeGrippo said.
“And if we’re at home with our family where we feel safe, you might see a family member hop on to do homework, and might not understand the security controls. Keeping mom’s and dad’s computer for mom and dad is the right thing to do,” he said.
Tom Pendergast, chief learning officer of the security and privacy training firm MediaPRO, said many of the millions of people adjusting to the new landscape are unprepared for teleworking.
“It’s one thing if people have been working remotely with equipment that has been properly configured,” Pendergast said. “It’s different for people who haven’t had that experience.”
Attackers are taking advantage of people’s fears about COVID-19 with scare tactics to get people to click on malicious links or attachments, but also playing on sympathies with fake crowdfunding pages purported to be for people who have fallen ill, he added.
Pendergast said healthcare organizations are especially susceptible to schemes such as ransomware, because “they are less likely to shut down their systems by refusing to pay.”
This was highlighted with a major hospital in the Czech Republic hit with ransomware following an e-mail campaign with a coronavirus “awareness” message, media reports said.
“The COVID-19 scare has proven lucrative for cybercriminals in recent weeks as healthcare institutions scramble to test patients, treat the infected and protect their own staff from the contagion,” a blog post from Filip Truta of the security firm BitDefende said. “Healthcare infrastructures are highly susceptible to hacker attacks because of lax cybersecurity skills and safeguards.”
The potential for costly cyberattacks has prompted warnings for stepped up vigilance.
The French public-private cybersecurity alliance this week warned businesses to be alert for faked e-mails related to purported orders or bank transfers, or telephone calls aimed at obtained financial account information.
The US Department of Homeland Security issued an alert this month warning that the COVID epidemic has increased threats and that “cyberactors may send e-mails with malicious attachments or links to fraudulent websites to trick victims into revealing sensitive information.”
Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors advised residents to watch for fraudulent e-mails claiming to be from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or experts saying they have information about the virus.
“Scammers may still offer fake vaccines and other bogus medical products claiming to offer ‘cures’ for the virus,” a statement from Connors’ office said.
DeGrippo said virtually all the cyberschemes related to the pandemic are financially motivated and added that “personally I find it depraved ... it is taking humanity at its most vulnerable and trying to use that for financial gain.”
She said that the threats may evolve as attackers craft new scheme and techniques.
“I can see some attackers sending messages like: ‘I’m in quarantine and need you to buy something for me,’ or ‘I need you to make this transfer of funds,’” she said. “I think we’ll see criminals leveraging the coronavirus to do more of that.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to