Security News > 2020 > May > COVID-19 has contributed to record breaking cybercriminal activity

There has been an exponential growth in phishing and website scams in Q1 2020, according to a Bolster analysis of over 1 billion websites.

Of the total number of confirmed phishing and counterfeit pages, 30% were related to COVID-19 - that is over a quarter of a million confirmed malicious websites.

Streaming phishing sites saw an 85% increase from Jan to March, with over 209 websites being created per day - attempting to capitalize on those looking for entertainment during lockdowns.

Bolster discovered multiple phishing websites peddling fake COVID-19 cryptocurrencies and crypto wallets that aim to siphon data for future phishing, targeted malware, or credential stealing.

"We anticipate phishing site creation will continue to increase, especially as we proceed further into a COVID-minded world. The phishing lures and tactics of cybercriminals will consistently evolve to keep up with the rapidly changing threat landscape, but the underlying credential theft will not," said Abhishek Dubey, CEO, Bolster.

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