covid The cases are once again in the headlines due to the increase in the number as well as its spread across the country. omicron Type. And as at the start of the pandemic, hackers are back to exploit the pandemic to launch more attacks. As the demand for COVID tests has increased over the past weeks, so has the number of scams taking advantage of the lack of tests, warn researchers at Barracuda. According to the research firm, it has seen an increase in phishing attacks related to COVID-testing over the past few months. Since the beginning of October 2021, there has been a 521% increase in Test scams.
The scammers are reportedly using various tactics to attract the attention of their victims. They are sending offers over email to sell COVID tests and other medical supplies such as masks or gloves. Some of these are selling counterfeit or otherwise unauthorized products. Fake notifications of unpaid orders for COVID tests are being sent, with scammers relying on the desperation of their victims, providing a PayPal account to receive payment to complete the purchase of rapid COVID tests. Malicious fraudsters are also impersonating healthcare workers and laboratory test providers as legitimate employees to share fake test results.
As some organizations try to get their employees back into the office, they send updated policies or request information about the immunization status of employees. Hackers hijack these conversations. In a specific example found in Barracuda’s research, cybercriminals impersonated a human resources department and shared a file hosted on a phishing site with employees in hopes of stealing their account credentials. The attackers even went so far as to impersonate the Office 365 logo and say that the document had already been scanned for viruses and spam content.
Sharing his insights on such attacks, James Forbes-May, Vice President, APAC barracuda network Said, “Covid-19 has disrupted the health and mental conscience of everyone for almost 2 years. The latest version brings another opportunity for scammers to take advantage of the people they want COVID-19 test, Therefore, it is important to be careful when disclosing any personal information when clicking suspicious links or opening attachments in these unexpected emails and soliciting testing, even if it is a legitimate site.
,