Coronavirus Phishing Attacks Surge
There is a surge in malicious emails that promise victims financial relief during the coronavirus pandemic. The flood of campaigns piggy-back on news of governments mulling financial relief packages, in response to the economic stall brought on by consumers social distance themselves. This latest trend shows cybercriminals continuing to look to the newest developments in coronavirus as lures for phishing campaigns, targeted emails spreading malware and more.
These campaigns use the promise of payments by global governments and businesses aimed at easing the economic impact of the ongoing pandemic to urge users to click links or download files. One phishing campaign has been spotted targeting U.S. healthcare and higher-education organizations with a message purporting to be from their payroll departments. The emails, titled “General Payroll !” explain that the Trump administration “is considering” sending most American adults a check to help stimulate the economy.
These emails come with plenty of red flags, including shoddy design, with grammatical and spelling errors. The messages also use a basic web page that's clearly branded by a free website maker for its phishing landing page. The message asks recipients to verify their email accounts through a malicious link called the “MARCH-BENEFIT secure link” that directs them to a phishing page. This phishing page then asks for their usernames, email addresses and passwords tied to their employee benefits.
Hackers continue to leverage coronavirus themed cyberattacks as panic around the global pandemic continues. Researchers warned that users should continue to be vigilant for phishing emails playing into fears around the coronavirus pandemic. Zeus Sphinx, for example, was recently spotted joining the growing number of COVID-19 themed phishing and malware campaigns, using a government-assistance lure. The ongoing shift to coronavirus-themed messages and campaigns is truly social engineering at scale, and these recent payment-related lures underscore that hackers are paying attention to new developments. Hackers will continue modifying their strategies as the news surrounding COVID-19 changes.