The normal way of life has been disrupted due to the pandemic, at the same time it has also given rise to various web-phishing attacks.
Researchers have discovered that 43% of malicious emails had spyware as attachments or links that led to their download, in the first half of 2020 itself. Backdoors and banking trojans have accounted for 16% and 15% of the malicious payloads, respectively. Among the malicious emails, ransomware had a share of less than 1%.
Notable Attacks
- New Android spyware for cyberespionage purposes was found being deployed by The Transparent Tribe APT group.
- After a brief hiatus, the Zepplin Ransomware was once again spotted. This version of the ransomware came with a new trojan downloader and has been targeting the healthcare and technology sectors.
- A phishing campaign that leveraged an email template pretending to be a reminder to finish a security awareness training from a renowned security organization.
A Cyberthreat Narrative
- We-phishers primarily targeted online services. Since the cybercriminals can steal user credentials to gain access to victims’ payment information, the e-commerce sector has appeared to be very lucrative for them.
- Email service providers and financial organizations are the next most affected service. The chief web-phishing target categories include cloud storage, payment info, dating websites, and social networking sites.
- According to our experts, the desire for more profits is likely to result in the surge of targeted ransomware attacks.
A substantial increase in cyberattacks has been observed this year due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The evolution of cyber threats and the sophisticated mode of deployment requires businesses and organizations to spread cybersecurity vigilance and secure their remote work environment.
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