Coronavirus 'fearware' sees hackers exploit Covid-19 panic to target victims

By Anthony Cuthbertson for The Independent
Friday, March 13, 2020

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Anyone opening the map sent by the hackers would be infected by a form of password-stealing malware that had been hidden within the map.

“Coronavirus is a formidable and fairly unprecedented opportunity to trick panicking people amid the global havoc and mayhem,” Ilia Kolochenko, founder of web security firm ImmuniWeb, told The Independent.

“The human factor remains the most burdensome to mitigate by technical means among the wide spectrum of organisational cyber risks, and the Covid-19 connection makes victims particularly susceptible to thoughtless actions.”

Covid-19 has been a popular discussion topic on criminal forums on the dark web, with this particular hacking tools advertised for as little as $200. For this price, cyber criminals are able to purchase the malware needed to carry out the attack on a large scale. Read Full Article