Cyber Attacks During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The UK national cybersecurity agency (the NCSC) and the US equivalent have issued a global warning regarding the use of the current COVID-19 pandemic as a vector for cyberattacks. 

Cybercriminals are exploiting the pandemic for financial gain, using ransomware and other malware. 

Phishing campaigns are a particularly popular way of accessing private information and taking advantage of unsuspecting victims. These campaigns often take the form of:

• Text messages masquerading as helpful resources, asking for your personal information and including malicious links.
• Emails claiming to offer government grants, redirecting users to fake websites that emulate gov.uk sites.

Types of Phishing Messages 

These phishing messages can look highly authentic; therefore, it is hard to notice their ill intentions at first glance. Using calls to action and urgent language, they aim to convince the victim to give over their usernames and passwords, credit card information, and other personal information. 

In many cases, cybercriminals create emails that lure the victim into opening an attachment or downloading a malicious file from a linked website. When the victim opens the attachment, the malware can act, which then compromises the victim’s device.

Cybercriminals often deploy ransomware at times when organisations are under increased pressure. Healthcare organisations and hospitals have recently experienced an influx of ransomware incidents, both in the US and across Europe. 

Remote Working

Many organisations have shifted to working from home during the pandemic and have therefore deployed new networks, including VPNs and related IT infrastructures. The move to remote working has opened a window of opportunity for malicious cyber attackers to take advantage of vulnerabilities of inadequately configured VPNs and other remote working tools and software. 

Our IT support team have been extremely busy since lockdown began, offering secure solutions to assist businesses working from home. They are more than happy to help your business in navigating any remote working issues you may have. 

Protective Measures

Generally, if a message looks too good to be true, is unexpected, poorly written, contains links to web pages, or asks for your login details of any sort, it most likely should not be trusted. 

Malicious cybercriminals are continually adjusting their tactics to take advantage of new opportunities for theft, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Our cyber security experts can offer further advice should you have any concerns about cyber security for your organisation. 

Companies should take proactive steps to protect themselves and their customers. If you do receive an email and are unsure as to the veracity of the email, please contact Freebook Global Technologies’s technical support team on 01722 744574 or Contact Us and we will be able to assist you.

We are Cyber Essentials Plus certified and work to ISO 27001 as an ISO certified company.

For an in-depth look into emerging cyber security threats, check out our recent cyber security blog post here.

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