Coronavirus-Related Cyber Attacks Jump 30%

PRESS RELEASE

In the past two weeks, Check Point researchers documented 192,000 coronavirus-related cyber attacks a week, marking a 30% increase when compared to previous weeks. As researchers unpack that number, they cite a key observation: impersonations.

Hackers Impersonate WHO and UN

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a popular name hackers impersonate. Recently, cyber criminals sent malicious emails posing as the WHO from the domain “who.int” with the email subject “Urgent letter from WHO: First human COVID-19 vaccine test/result update” to lure victims into a trap. The emails contained a file named “xerox_scan_covid-19_urgent information letter.xlxs.exe” that contained the infamous Agent Tesla malware, a password stealing program that comes with a key logger for hackers to gather usernames and passwords from a victim’s device. Victims who clicked on the file ended up downloading the malware.

In addition, Check Point researchers found two examples of extortion emails allegedly sent by the United Nations (UN) and WHO that requested for funds to be sent into bitcoin wallets.

Zoom-like Domains Registrations Heighten

In the last 3 weeks, around 2,449 new Zoom-related domains were registered, in which 1.5% of these domains are malicious (32) and 13% are suspicious (320). Since January 2020 to date, a total of 6,576 Zoom-like domains have been registered globally. If you do the math, this means that nearly 37% of Zoom-related domains were registered in the last 3 weeks alone, since the advent of coronavirus pandemic.

Hackers Impersonate Microsoft Teams and Google Meets

Both Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are also being used to lure people into traps. Recently, victims fell prey to phishing emails that came with the subject “You have been added to a team in Microsoft Teams“. The emails contained a malicious URL, http://login\.microsoftonline.com-common-oauth2-eezylnrb\.medyacam\.com/common/oauth2/, and victims ended up downloading malware when clicking on the “Open Microsoft Teams” icon that led to this URL.  The actual link for Microsoft Teams is “https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team”.

Researchers also found fake Google Meets domains like “Googelmeets\.com”, which was first registered on April 27, 2020. The link did not lead victims to an actual Google website.

Coronavirus-related Domain Registrations Heighten

In the past three weeks, almost 20,000 (19,749) new coronavirus-related domains were registered, of which 2% of these domains are malicious (354) and another 15% are deemed suspicious (2,961).

Since the beginning of the outbreak, a total of 90,284 new coronavirus-related domains have been registered globally.

The Themes and Trends of Coronavirus-related Domain Registrations

As researchers analyzed the new coronavirus-related domains registered, they observed that the domains reflected the chronology of different stages of the pandemic outbreak.

Check Point’s Manager of Data Research, Omer Dembinsky:

“We’ve noticed a change in the last three weeks. Hackers have gone into over-drive to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. If you unpack these latest cyber attacks, the theme of impersonation is a clear and strong one, especially around the WHO, the UN and Zoom. For example, the number of Zoom-like domain registrations in the past three weeks alone is staggering. More than ever, it is important to beware of lookalike domains and to be extra caution of unknown senders.”

How to Stay Protected

To stay safe, Check Point outlines the following guidelines: