Security News > 2020 > May > Healthcare, Government Organizations Targeted in BEC Attacks With COVID-19 Lures
Nigerian cybercriminals specialized in business email compromise attacks were observed leveraging COVID-19 lures in recent attacks on healthcare and government organizations, Palo Alto Networks reveals.
The campaigns stand out because they also attempted to compromise organizations critical to COVID-19 response efforts, including "Government healthcare agencies, local and regional governments, large universities with medical programs/centers, regional utilities, medical publishing firms, and insurance companies across the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom."
The assaults targeted organizations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and a European medical publishing company to deliver various malware families.
Two other campaigns targeted US organizations, a Canadian health insurer, a university and regional government in Italy, and various government institutions in Australia.
"In light of this trend, we encourage government agencies, healthcare and insurance organizations, public utilities, and universities with medical programs to apply extra scrutiny to COVID-19-related emails containing attachments," Palo Alto Networks concludes.