In the time of the pandemic, we spend our time on our laptops, mobile phones, and the internet more than ever in our lives. It would not be wrong to say that Covid-19 made society a lot more vulnerable. Cybercrime has been a part of the world for years. But, the percentage of Cybercrime increased with the increase of traffic online.
COVID-19 caused health and economic crises and an increase in the rate of cyber threats and crimes globally. Cybercriminals attacked many businesses, networks, individuals, and even global organizations.
Evidences on Cybercrime During Pandemic
Interpol carried out a report in which they surveyed 48 member countries and four private partners of said institutions. They found much evidence that proved the increased rate of Cybercrime during the COVID-19 situation.
The survey report showed evidence that from January to April in 2020, there were about 907,000 spam emails, detection of 48,000 malicious URLs, and 737 incidents, all of which were related to COVID-19.
The main cybercrimes reported related to the pandemic situation are following:
- Malicious Domains
- Data Theft
- Internet Scamming
- Malware
- Phishing
Malicious Domains
During the pandemic, many malicious Domains were registered online using the keywords “COVID-19” and “Corona.” Interpol’s Cyber Crime Directorate checked 80 members and found 20,000 malicious domains on COVID-19.
About 116,357 domains were newly registered by the end of March 2020. Out of these domains, 2,022 were malicious domains, and there were about 40,621 high-risk domains.
The primary purpose of these domains is to create fake websites that give updates about pandemics. But, in reality, they are used to get the users’ personal information. The identification of personal data and information can be used to scam people.
Malware
There was an increased rate of malware found in the report during the pandemic with evidence. Malware attacks were observed over some government agencies and their infrastructures, medical centers, and hospitals.
Malware attacks are performed to stop the management of operational systems and access to data. As a result, they can cause a chaotic situation and aggravate the collapse of the place.
Phishing and Internet Scam
Phishing became a significant part of the pandemic from the beginning. Fraudulent emails filled the inboxes of millions of users globally. There were a lot of emails sent to users about the drugs, medicines, disinfectants, and emergency services to aid people during the pandemic.
There was another form of phishing reported in the survey. Some emails pretended to be government and healthcare authorities to provide information and guidance about coronavirus and prevention but caused data theft.
How to Prevent it?
Many countries are encouraging their citizens to report cybercrimes and stay safe. Here we have a few recommendations for you to follow to stay beware.
- Try to keep your information as safe as possible.
- You should always backup all your essential files and documents
- Verify that you are using a company’s legitimate website
- Use anti-malware software on your laptop
- You should secure your email gateway to thwart threats
Rogue Logics provides in-depth security services for assessing and protecting your application, data, and infrastructure against potential threats on-prem or in the cloud.
Want a consultation with the professionals at Rogue Logics? Contact us and get a free quote.