Cybercriminals are capitalising on the fear of COVID-19 to launch phishing attacks, says Microsoft

Cybercriminals are capitalising on the fear of COVID-19 to launch phishing attacks, says Microsoft

  • Tech giant Microsoft reports that it blocked over 13 billion malicious and suspicious mails in 2019, of which more than 1 billion were phishing credential attacks. In 2020, the tech giant is busy tackling misinformation around Covid-19 as cybercriminals pivoted lures to imitate trusted sources like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other national health organisations, to get users to click on malicious links and attachments.
  • China, the US and Russia were hit the hardest but every country in the world saw at least one Covid-19-themed attack.
  • The report found that threat actors have rapidly increased in sophistication over the past year, using techniques that make them harder to spot, threatening even the savviest targets.

| October 5, 2020