Reports in cybercrime have exponentially increased in recent months as criminals have sought to exploit the UK during the Coronavirus pandemic. Cyber criminals have been trying new ways to trick people across the globe as they attempt to profit during these times of particular difficulty.
Reports in cybercrime have risen so much that the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) have launched a new Cyber Aware campaign, after surveys reported that 42% of people believed they had been targeted by scams during the pandemic. The NCSC have also urged the public to report all COVID-19 related emails scams as part of their Cyber Aware campaign.
Criminals have been coming up with new techniques of already existent tactics to steal money and confidential data. Here are a few updates to attacks you need to be aware of;
Business Email Compromise – a form of email scam that can lead you to become an insider threat to your organisation. Criminals send out phishing or spear-phishing attacks to steal credentials to a user?s mailbox. Once they have access to the mailbox, they use it to send out more phishing attacks to all of the users contact list or to thousands of email addresses stolen in past breaches. The criminals then set up a number of mailbox rules to ensure they can continue with their scams and also maximise the time it takes for the user to realise their mailbox has been compromised.
Maze Ransomware ? Businesses across the globe have been targeted by a new form of Ransomware called Maze. Similar to the WannaCry ransomware that crippled the NHS in 2018, the Maze ransomware encrypts all data on a PC and asks for a ransom to be paid in order for the data to be decrypted and accessible again.
Health Organisations targeted ? Health Organisations like the NHS have been primarily targeted during the Coronavirus Pandemic as they struggle to battle COVID-19. Criminals have been using spear-phishing attacks to target workers who are extremely busy and stressed and therefor very likely to make a mistake when handling their mailboxes. Fake invoices related to PPE have been one of many forms of spear-phishing attacks reported to the NSCS from health organisations.
It’s imperative that everyone stays extra vigilant during the Coronavirus pandemic and that all mailboxes are handled with extra caution. Cyber Wise are keeping up to date with all COVID-19 related scams and attacks during the pandemic to ensure you and your team are always protected. Check out our COVID-19 page daily for all of our new blogs and alerts.