The past few months have seen a global increase in hacking attempts. Be it on businesses, individuals and actual healthcare care system itself, criminals have utilised the situation to try and win. Those with good IT Support and the ability to spot when they are being scammed have been safe from being compromised, but many have not. So what have hackers been doing to utilise Covid-19 and how important is it that you look after your cybersecurity at this time?
Hackers & The Virus
With many people working from home around the globe and emotions running high, cyber criminals have thought that this time created an opportunity to prey on those feelings and situations to act illegally. They have been utilising their typical way of hacking, phishing emails and texts, to try to gain access to systems to steal personal data.
But it is the fact that they have played on the virus itself to try and gain those clicks from unknowing users. By really jumping on the current situation, hackers have been known to send phishing emails using the follow disguises;
- Discussing a ‘cure’ to the virus and advice from a Doctor
- Implying that the target is due a tax return due to the virus
- Imitating the WHO (Wolrd Health Organisation) and giving out advice
- Spreading fake news about rapid dangerous developments
- Asking for donating to fake charities/causes to help fight the virus.
It’s quite simply very scary that these cyber criminals prey on their targets in such a way that is representative of what is happening right now and unfortunately, there has been many successes and financial loss for those individuals.
So the question is, how you can you prevent falling for this?
How To Get Help
Unfortunately, there is no way that we can simply stop hackers. But there are things that you can put in place to help prevent you from falling for the facade.
The first thing is to educate yourself on how to recognise these falsified emails. If you and your employees, if in a business situation, can learn what it is that makes these emails different, you can spot the signs that will indicate whether or not the email is fake and has malicious intent. There are several things to look out for such as dodgy attachments, spelling and grammar mistakes and emails being sent from a public domain address. Knowing what to look out for can make or break for whenever one of these emails next lands in your inbox.
If you want to take things one step further, considering reaching out for some IT Support to assist you with your company either on-site or remotely. There are many different services an IT Support company can assist you with to keep your business safe but cyber security and endpoint security is important when it comes to situations like this.
By looking after individuals endpoint systems, a solution is provided called ‘Protected Workstations’ to give you confidence in your company. This means that all your companies’ devices are monitored regularly and ensure that their security and performance are running as well as they can be at all times and aren’t in any immediate danger.
Hackers will never stop workin to gain access, they will constantly innovate ways to try and get access to your systems. This means it is important, now more than ever, to ensure you as an individual and any businesses out there are protected to avoid reputation damage, data leaks and financial loss. Are you prepared to deal with the consequences?
