The worldwide spread of the Coronavirus has induced a significant increase in cyber attacks as hackers target remote workers through phishing attacks and disinformation campaigns on social media.
Since early March, many warnings were issued against phishing attacks and online frauds by the national intelligence and cyber security agencies in the U.S, U.K, Canada, Australia, Spain and France. According to the warnings, attackers exploit the Coronavirus outbreak by spreading false information about the crisis. On March 27th, a Europol report issued a warning that hackers are carrying out pandemic-themed phishing attacks and online frauds to spread malwares and sell counterfeit medical equipment.
Experts and cyber security companies have warned that hackers are taking advantage of the fact that many employees are not accustomed to working remotely and their devices are not protected by their companies’ security systems and teams. Experts also found a correlation between the sharp increase of phishing attacks and the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in countries such as Italy.
Nation states started to use the Coronavirus as part of their disinformation campaigns, cyber espionage and cyber attacks. Recently published reports demonstrated that hackers working on the behalf of Russia, China and North Korea have impersonated the foreign and health ministries of Ukraine, Mongolia and South Korea and took advantage of public fears in order to spread backdoor Trojans.
These states also took advantage of the crisis in order to disseminate false information and to control narratives which deem essential to their national interests. According to a warning, issued in Lithuania, Russian hackers infiltrated into content management systems of local media outlets to falsely claim that NATO soldiers had been infecting locals with the virus.
In addition, new research from Stanford University’s Internet Observatory examines China’s efforts to shape global narratives of the origin and outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Since early March, many medical institutions and hospitals in several countries have experienced cyber attacks. In the Czech Republic, the Brno University Hospital, which operates the largest Coronavirus research lab in the country, has experienced a ransomware attack, forcing the delay of surgical interventions. Other institutions that experienced attacks were the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals in Spain, medical research companies that test the COVID-19 genome in the U.S and the U.K, the Hospital Authority of Paris and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In order to mitigate threats, several initiatives were launched as a response to worldwide cyber attacks. In the U.S, Attorney General William Barr urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prioritize the prosecution of cybercriminals who exploit fears about the virus. Large social media companies published a joint statement, pledging to fight COVID-19 disinformation and conspiracy theories on social media platforms. In addition, 400 cybersecurity experts from over 40 different countries formed the COVID-19 CTI League, a group that pledges to assist in preventing and combating ransomware and phishing attacks on medical institutions.