Security News > 2020 > February > More Phishing Campaigns Tied to Coronavirus Fears

As fears about the coronavirus continue to spread, cybercriminals are using the health crisis to send phishing emails using a variety of tactics to a broader range of targets.

In late January, IBM X-Force researchers discovered a first wave of phishing scams that targeted some regions in Japan to spread the Emotet Trojan, as well as other malware, by using malicious messages that appear to contain information about coronavirus.

"The coronavirus as a topic is heating up among malefactors of various kinds, so expect to see other malicious campaigns using the deadly virus as bait," Maria Vergelis, a security researcher with Kaspersky, notes in the company's latest report.

These CDC-themed phishing emails encourage users to click on a link that contains details about new cases of coronavirus around where they live, according to Kaspersky.

"These attacks take coronavirus-themed attacks in a direction people might not expect, away from health-related concerns and toward secondary, economic-related concerns, in this case the possible impact of coronavirus on global shipping, Sherrod DeGrippo, a researcher at Proofpoint, writes in the report."This underscores that the threat potential around coronavirus remains broad and everyone should exercise extra caution when dealing with coronavirus-themed emails, links and attachments.

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