TECHIE
Threat level rising
MANY MORE PHISH IN THE SEA
The spread of COVID brought with it a new wave of cyberattacks
Cyberrisks spread like wildfire as the coronavirus made its way across the world. Here are a few data points.
BY KARA HARTNETT
he virtual war didn’t stop when the pandemic hit. It raged on more tactically and maliciously than ever before. The phishing schemes and malware came from all over the globe and from different cyber-terrorism groups and nation-states. They targeted consumer data and information about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, putting health care companies who were already experiencing a disproportionate share of cyber attacks at an even higher risk of a breach. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says that in March, organizations coming out of China, Iran and elsewhere took aim at manufacturing, media, health care and nonprofit organizations as part of an espionage campaign. And in May, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced they were investigating attempts to compromise data and other intellectual property from institutions conducting research on COVID-19. As the nation reckoned with a global contagion that has — within months — infected more than 2 million people in the United States and 8 million across the globe, hackers worldwide took advantage of the news cycle and temporary workforce changes to con people into exposing their personal data through phishing attacks — which rose 600 percent during the onset of the pandemic — and other malware. They used tactics such as disguised emails car-
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rying malicious attachments as updates on the coronavirus, mirrored links to popular video chat platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts to harvest data, and even developed applications that when downloaded corrupt a person’s mobile phone with ransomware. “If you aren’t thinking about it, [these attempts] might seem perfectly normal at a time like this, and very reasonable. But if you act on any of the links that are included, or websites they send you to, or click on the attachments within these things, in many cases right now you are going to find yourself a victim,” says Jon Moore, chief risk officer at Nashville-based Clearwater Compliance. “They are unloading malware that may be harvesting credentials, the usernames, account names, other email addresses you might have, taking over systems.” The rapid growth of virtual private networks — in many cases being widely used for the first time after being rolled out on short notice when public health officials ordered lockdowns — also has made companies vulnerable. And the decline in regulation and subsequent expansion of telehealth also has created new cyber risks for consumers and health care organizations using unsecured networks. Moore says many organizations being pulled or pushed into new technological environments “were not necessarily prepared to implement telework” and may have vulnerabilities they don’t know about.
Phishing sites detected by Google January ................................... 149,195 February................................. 292,235 March ......................................522,495 Source: Google, PCMag
COVID-related spearphishing email attacks January .........................................137 February.................................... 1,188 March* ...................................467,825 Source: Barracuda Networks * Through March 23
COVID-themed threats January ..................................... 1,200 February................................. 10,000 March ...................................380,000 Source: Zscaler
Suspicious newly registered domains January ..................................... 3,223 February.................................. 10,165 March ......................................96,743 Source: Zscaler
