"Watch Out for Coronavirus Phishing Scams"
Security firms are discovering that hackers are exploiting the fear caused by the coronavirus outbreak to perform phishing scams. One phishing email detected by Mimecast contains malicious links and PDFs, claiming to have information about how people could protect themselves from being infected with the coronavirus. The email appeared to be sent from a virologist, as its attached document provides safety measures against the spread of this virus. According to security experts, email scammers often try to take advantage of the sense of fear and urgency raised by threatening world events to increase the rate at which phishing emails are clicked. Recent studies have also highlighted the customization of phishing scams based on seasonal events, including the holidays or tax season. This article continues to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, hackers' use of fear surrounding the outbreak to spread malware, and the exploitation of other highly visible events by cybercriminals to perform malicious activities.