{"id":5111,"date":"2021-06-28T12:30:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T16:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nexela.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=5111"},"modified":"2023-03-20T15:25:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T19:25:18","slug":"phishing-attacks-in-2021-trend-toward-the-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nexela.com\/?p=5111","title":{"rendered":"Phishing Attacks in 2021 Trend Toward the COVID-19 Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hackers have made some nefarious choices over the past several months, many of which involve using the COVID-19 pandemic to spread their influence and steal data through the use of phishing attacks. Let\u2019s explore how these cybercriminals have leveraged a global disaster to their benefit and some ways that you can keep your business secure.<\/p>\n

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According to SecureList, spam and phishing trends in Q1 of 2021 were heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and not in a good way. Here are a few examples of the major threats that surfaced during this time.<\/p>\n

Stimulus Payment Scandals<\/h2>\n

Early 2021 saw many initiatives by government agencies to suppress the financial burden placed on individuals and businesses through the use of economic impact payments and business bailouts. Hackers, of course, wanted to capitalize on this and began using phishing messages to trick people. Targets received messaging that was often specific to their bank and utilized similar branding to official websites. These efforts were all elaborate tricks to convince users to hand over their credentials. Users would unsuspectingly enter their credentials into forms on these fake websites and put their sensitive information at risk.<\/p>\n

The Vaccine Race<\/h2>\n

Back when the COVID-19 vaccine was in short supply or the supply itself was limited to specific groups of people, there was a bit of a race to get to it. This rush created an opportunity for hackers to capitalize on peoples\u2019 desires for security and safety, and they leveraged phishing schemes that used the vaccine to their advantage. They would use language and branding of official health organizations to convince users to click on links in emails, which would then redirect users to fake websites for harvesting credentials or banking information. Even those who got the vaccine received surveys offering free goods in exchange for information.<\/p>\n

What You Can Do<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that cybercriminals are using these tricks to subvert security measures. These types of attacks are just more in a string of phishing attacks that must be kept up with in order to maintain network security. Here are a couple of ways that you can make this happen.<\/p>\n