Pandemic hacks have increased tenfold, and the majority is because of your COVID concerns. How? Mental health experts warn that the pandemic has increased psychological distress among people worldwide. Cybercriminals are performing pandemic hacks using these very insecurities. In this article at Security Boulevard, Charles Kolodgy shares how cybercriminals are launching pandemic hacks using your psychological trauma.
Psychology and Pandemic Hacks
Fears, economic volatility, and personal crisis have started a psychological epidemic across the world. Experts fear that the effect can stretch beyond the crisis phase. People are desperately looking for solutions online, so they easily fall prey to misleading information and phony sites. Point3 Security’s VP Chloé Messdaghi remarks, “They exploit our fears using an emotional exploit called ‘Amygdala Hijacking,’ which is when a strong negative emotion causes an individual to lose the ability to think rationally.”
Rising Attack Rates
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the pandemic hacks have increased ‘by a factor of four’. The number of attacks in June far exceeded the number of cybercrimes in the entire year of 2019. 63 percent of the survey participants reported increased pandemic hacks, according to the Information Systems Security Association and Enterprise Strategy Group. Exabeam and Censuswide revealed that 80 percent of SMBs and mid-size organizations also saw visible spikes.
Targeting You
Have you got an email claiming to have important coronavirus information? Phishing emails such as these and false donation camps trigger your inner vulnerabilities. Google reported 18 million such emails in April. Palo Alto Networks conveyed that 100,000 of the new million websites that sprouted on the Internet are suspicious.
How to Prevent?
Messdaghi says that we should be vigilant about how we react online. Though there are technologies to stop these fake news and emails from reaching your inbox, you are responsible for your online behavior. Even if the information provokes an instant response, take a day or two before responding, if you must. Do not open suspicious links or respond when tired. Companies can also utilize the zero-trust model to avoid pandemic hacks from hijacked employee or client accounts.
To view the original article, visit the following link: https://securityboulevard.com/2020/08/cybercriminals-increasingly-exploitating-pandemic-trauma/
