Avoid COVID related Cyber-attacks
December 7, 2020
Whether you are working from home or safely back at the office, this virus seems to be constantly lurking in the shadows and has now crept its way into our online experiences.
We no longer simply stress about the importance of keeping a safe distance in real life, but also to keep a safe distance online.
An army of hackers has launched a wave of COVID related cyber-attacks attempting to target individuals working from home!
We feel the urgent need to inform you of some of the common types of COVID cyber-attacks to keep you vigilant and aware of the typical signs to look out for and avoid falling victim to these unnecessary invasions.
WHY?
The coronavirus lockdown has forced individuals to use unfamiliar online platforms and applications which increased the number of work or COVID-related emails that people receive.
Hackers take advantage of these vulnerabilities as the perfect opportunity to target innocent users and get their sensitive personal or business-related information.
HOW?
Malicious Email Campaigns
Be aware of Spoofing attacks, with emails that appear to be received from trustworthy contacts like colleague’s sending a link to download files for example. These could be potential hackers luring you to click on dangerous content or executable files that once clicked can plant malicious content onto your local machine.
TIP: If you are not expecting any documents from that specific sender or do not trust the provided link – do not click the link or open the attachment.
TIP: Always look at the senders email address and you will most likely see that the email address is fake or suspicious.
Spoofing attacks can come in different shapes and sizes. Some malicious emails can seem to be from important organisations asking to donate money to a charity or health organisation to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
TIP: Always use legitimate websites from trustworthy sources when doing online transactions.
TIP: If something looks or feels suspicious, contact the sender to confirm before sharing any personal or private details, usernames or passwords!
Phishing Attempts
Hackers have gotten creative and started to develop fake login pages of online chat applications such as ZOOM, in order to obtain important account login information.
TIP: Use strong passwords containing a mix of capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Always keep a hard copy of all your passwords in a secure location for future use, in order to keep track of your different passwords. Never share passwords in the body copy of an email but rather type out the password in a text editor like Microsoft Word and attach the document to the email.
We caution you to regularly run trusted anti-virus programs on all your devices, to scan for any potential malicious viruses.
We need to be vigilant when using the web and inform each other of existing hacks doing the rounds to help avoid more people becoming victims of these clever sneaky hackers.
If you have experienced an unusual hack we recommend getting help from a trusted professional tech support team that will advise you in the right direction.
Stay Safe Online!