Cybercrime Reports Tripled Amid COVID-19

The FBI deputy assistant director, Tonya Ugoretz, spoke in an online panel about the increase of cybercrime and revealed that the number of cybercrime reports tripled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Whereas they might typically receive 1,000 complaints a day through their internet portal, they're now receiving something like 3,000 to 4,000 complaints a day," stated Ugoretz, adding: "Not all of those are COVID-related, but a good number of those are."

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Cybercrime is spreading as fast as COIVD-19

At first, the dark appeared to be on board with preventing scammers from capitalizing on coronavirus. Not only did several ransomware operators pledge they would not target healthcare organizations, but some dark web researchers even noticed expressions of solidarity with victims of COIVD-19.

However, this is just a drop in the sea. While some operators guaranteed they would not capitalize on these events, other hackers have increased their hacking attempts of hospitals, and darknet markets have become popular with fraudulent COVID-19 cures. Scammers take advantage of the panic amongst society and use it to create scams, such as false charity websites, symptom checking sites, coronavirus maps that install malware. The different scams are endless, and sadly they put their creativity to harmful use.

How to protect yourself from Coronavirus scams

When going out to the public, people are now wearing masks. Rather than treating the Corona after getting infected, we're protecting ourselves from it before it reaches. The same goes for online.

* Get alerts on phishing and scam sites: Sites that are 2 days old, connected to a chain of malicious websites, can be detected. It's one of the best ways to protect yourself.

* Malicious extension alerts: Scams like Coronavirus map that install malware can also be detected before the malware reaches your device.

* Get your information on Corona only from trusted authorities websites: Actively type the url of the authority website. Remember that many hackers are posing as WHF and other organizations.

* Educate your loved ones about online safety: Even if you take all the precautions possible, if someone you are close with gets hacked, your information could be leaked through them. If you have a Guardio family account, add them for free to your membership.

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SourceCointelergraph