667% spike in email phishing attacks due to coronavirus fears
New data from Barracuda shows cybercriminals are taking advantage of people’s concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As much of the world grapples with the new coronavirus, COVID-19, and how to handle it, attackers are preying on people’s emotions and taking advantage of the widespread discussion of COVID-19 in emails and across the web.
A variety of phishing campaigns are taking advantage of the heightened focus on COVID-19 to distribute malware, steal credentials, and scam users out of money, the company said. “The attacks use common phishing tactics that are seen regularly; however, a growing number of campaigns are using the coronavirus as a lure to try to trick distracted users to capitalize on the fear and uncertainty of their intended victims,” the company said. The FBI recently issued an alert about these types of attacks.
Barracuda researchers have seen three main types of phishing attacks using coronavirus COVID-19 themes: scamming, brand impersonation, and business email compromise, the company said. Of the coronavirus-related attacks detected through March 23, 54% were scams, 34% were brand impersonation attacks, 11% were blackmail, and 1% were business email compromise (BEC). “Phishing attacks using COVID-19 as a hook are quickly getting more sophisticated,” Barracuda noted. “In the past few days, Barracuda researchers have seen a significant number of blackmail attacks popping up and a few instances of conversation hijacking.” In comparison, until a few days ago, researchers were primarily seeing mostly scamming attacks. As of March 17, the breakdown coronavirus phishing attacks detected, 77% were scams, 22% were brand impersonation, and 1% was a BEC. “We expect to see this trend toward more sophisticated attacks continue,” the company said. Goals of the attacks ranged from distributing malware to stealing credentials, and financial gain. One new type of ransomware Barracuda systems detected has even taken on the COVID-19 namesake and dubbed itself CoronaVirus, the company said.
