As businesses change, so do the many different tactics employed by cybercriminals, including specific COVID-19 themed cyberattacks. These are attempts to breach IT security or steal personal data by initiating COVID-19-themed correspondence via tools like email or SMS. Business IT systems and employees using remote collaboration software are usually a lucrative target for such attacks.
The most common COVID-themed cyberattacks include:
Phishing: Company employees are tricked into supplying their personal information, including usernames and passwords. In most cases, they innocently click on an email or SMS link that leads to a spoofed online form where they enter their IT security credentials. Hackers steal that information right away.
Ransomware: Here, the attacker sends harmful codes or scripts, usually concealed behind an attached email file or a link in the body of the email. By clicking the corrupted link or attachment, the target unknowingly downloads and installs the malicious program on their PC.