Cyber ​​criminals Take Advantage of The Corona Fear | Total Security Software

You need to know how cyber criminals taking advantages of corona fear, stay safe with total security software.

While German companies are struggling with problems in converting their work under pandemic conditions, another industry has quickly adapted to the new situation: Cybercriminals of all kinds are currently trying to take advantage of the fear and confusion in the population. Since January they have been trying to use the COVID-19 topic as bait in phishing emails. To keep yourself use total security software that prevents cybercriminals attacks.

For example, a program promises to clearly display the current number of cases of the coronavirus. If you click on it, you not only open a card but at the same time download a program in the background that secretly searches for information that can be turned into money: passwords, credit card information, etc. An app also provided the latest Numbers to display the spread of the Coronavirus. Anyone who installed the program on their smartphone was soon exposed to an attempt at extortion. The app locked the device and offered the user to release it in exchange for a payment of 100 euros. The decryption code has now been cracked and published.

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has not yet recorded an increase in cyber attacks. "Rather, attackers use the current opportunity to make the spam mails more interesting," said a spokesman for the authority. Essentially, currently, known malware is now being spread under the guise of the coronavirus. However, experts expect that the activities will increase shortly.

Phishing attacks are particularly attractive to attackers at the moment because many companies have sent most of their employees to work from home to prevent infection in the workplace. In many cases, this means a radical upheaval: Many employees now have to work from home for the first time. You often have to look for yourself from your desk at home without any training, for example, how to cope with new video conferencing software. Also, the number of e-mails has increased significantly in many places. It is therefore understandable that employees open e-mails that appears trustworthy at first glance.

In the home office, there is also the risk that cybercriminals gain access to the employers' networks. This is made easier if employees mix professional and private activities and the end devices used are connected to the company.

With the massive move to the home office, the IT departments initially focused on getting employees up and running as quickly as possible. But now the risks have to be reassessed and IT security has to be adapted to the changed situation.

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has compiled advice on its website. In addition to a general range of information for citizens and companies, specific guidelines for switching to the home office were also published.

Overall, online blackmail with encryption software continues to cause growing damage worldwide. Not only is the number of these attacks increasing, but the sums demanded by blackmailers are also increasing. Ransomware attacks are increasingly targeting critical systems. The reinsurer Munich Re observed the largest increase in ransomware attacks among providers in the healthcare sector. This is a global problem, with most of the cases currently being observed in the United States. The largest ransomware damage in Europe with 90 and 75 million euros respectively was located in Scandinavia last year.

Cybersecurity companies estimate the total loss at 500 to 600 billion dollars a year worldwide. Only a fraction of this was insured.

Ransomware means that blackmailers install encryption software on their victims' computer systems and charge money for decryption.

According to Munich Re, the fact that many employees currently work from home with mobile access to the company network could mean a security gap. The appeal to business is therefore not to neglect IT security even in the current exceptional situation.