PROACTIVE DEFENCE

DEREK MANKY, CHIEF - SECURITY INSIGHTS AND GLOBAL THREAT ALLIANCES, FORTINET AND AAMIR LAKHANI, GLOBAL SECURITY STRATEGIST AND LEAD RESEARCHER, FORTIGUARD LABS, DISCUSS HOW ORGANISATIONS CAN PREPARE FOR A SURGE IN ATTACKS TARGETING REMOTE WORKERS.

- DEREK MANKY and AAMIR LAKHANI

Over the last weeks, the FortiGuard Labs team has been monitoring a significant spike in coronavirus and COVID-19 related threats. Significant social events are usually a catalyst for new threats to emerge – there are always evil people looking to exploit others during times of crisis – and the current situation is no different.

While this sort of response to the current crisis is not unexpected, what is surprising is the volume of new threats we are seeing in such a short period of time. Trolling the Dark Web looking for new criminal trends, themes, and malware reveals an alarming number of advertisements pitching pandemic related scams, such as offers to provide Chloroquine and other medicines and medical devices, all preying on fears about the current pandemic.

We have also seen an enormous spike in coronavirus related scams – money scams, shared riding service scams, money transfer scams, credit card scams, and even scam kits designed for novice cybercriminals known as script kiddies.

Cybercriminals are exploiting the rapid change to our digital world