COVID 19 | APAV spreads Criminal Police warning about cyber threats

APAV spreads the Criminal Police warning about cyber threats in the context of the COVID-19 public health crisis. In international crisis scenarios, cybercriminals traditionally take advantage of the social alarmism and media attention provoked by the situation for their cyber-attacks.

The current pandemic, due to the spreading of virus COVID-19, is no exception. In fact, a high number of cybercriminals are using the theme as cover up for their attacks. Since february, different types of cyber attacks have been registered:
-Phishing (by email, SMS or social media) by pretending to have a connection to official organizations such as World Health Organization, UNICEF or health investigation centers and laboratories, leading people to share personal information or to open files which instead of COVID-19 related information download malware;
-Promotion of digital plataforms or apps that supposedly provide real time information about the pandemic, but which are aimed, in reality, to download malware, including ransomware;
-Digital fraud scams shared by email or in social media which promote crowdsourcing in order to collect funds for false campaigns to buy medical and self-protection material;
-SMS informing that, according to the law, extraordinary measures are being applied and that all national citizens will be vaccinated and that, in order to later receive reimbursement of expenses, people should pay the amount defined in the SMS;

Given these situations, people are advised to take extreme caution concerning digital contents related to COVID-19, and to prioritize official and reliable sources of information.