Cyber threat actors (CTA) always take advantage of major events. Coronavirus Outbreak is not an exception. We expect this will be done for the outbreak across the world. They will likely post links to fake charities and fake safety instructions thus trying to conduct financial fraud and disseminate malware. This will continue for months.
Signs
There has been a huge jump in domain name rfegistrations with the word coronavirus, help, relief, victims and recover. Few of those wdomains appear malicious and such websites should always be viewed with caution.
CTA's will likely send malicious emails, post malicious advertisements online, post socila media posts and send SMS messages with viral links.
How to protect yourself:
Contact Cyberkite to assist with preventative measure to protect you business. You can book a consultation appointment here: Book a Session
Any social media posts that advertise help for victims or safety guidelines should be treated with caution. This includes links to crowdfunding pages, email addresses, or other websites and should be viewed with caution.
Be careful with any links in emails with links that offer to show instructions on corona virus safety and donation campaigns.
Don't go to untrusted websites or tap on links in suspicious and unknown sms mesages. Double check the spelling of website addresses first because CTA's often misspell the website name to fool you to think its the real website.
If a legitimate donation campaign exists please check the donation sites countries government register of donation agencies. In Australia you can go to ACNC CHARITY REGISTER. If it's a valid donation campaign then go for it. Another option is to go to Google Search and type in the donation fund name and type the word "review" or "scam" - as someone has already been bound to fall prey.
Example of Corona Virus Email Scam (Source: Mimecast)
References:
MS-ISAC Article - by Thomas F. Duffy, MS-ISAC Chair
