UK’s National Cyber Security Center(NCSC), the country’s cyberattack watchdog has recorded more scams and malicious activities that happened last 2020. It’s 15 times more prevalent compared to the previous year before the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
Mainly, cybercriminals use the data to deceive people to give more sensitive information about them. Specifically, they do it by installing malware, as well as launching other related hostile operations.
Uk’s Cyber Crime Group Dismantles 700,595 Malicious Activities in 2020
(Photo : Mikhail Nilov from Pexels)
According to the most recent report of Bloomberg, the recorded cases of scams at the time of the pandemic are 15-times more compared to the year 2019.
In a report published on Monday, May 10 UK’s NCSC noted that the suspicious campaigns continue to increase despite the pandemic. Additionally, the online attacks remain active for a longer time.
While people struggle to cope up with the health crisis, scams in the form of phishing and hacking persist across the globe. Since people are frequently working at home now, the scammers took this opportunity to trick people using misleading links.
Read Also: Hackers Target UK Parliament In A Sustained Cyber-Attack
Some of the malicious contents involve fear-mongering the coronavirus’ aftermath to the public. Upon seeing the suspicious link, the user will click it and they will be directed to an unfamiliar website where they are instructed to input their personal details.
There are also instances that hackers mimic how the UK government informs its people. The cyber report also indicated that a US-based domain host NameCheap falls into this category.
According to NCSC, the median “take-down” times were more than 60 hours by mid-year. Furthermore, NameCheap has been closely monitored since it is said to be the host of the phishing campaigns during the time.
Forms of Scams that Cyber Attackers Launch
The cybercrime group also said that 46.4% of the hacking operations tackle make-shift celebrity endorsements like in the case of Richard Branson, a billionaire. Amazon was found out to own the suspicious server.
Hackers make use of the servers which will attract a lot of people to the hosting market. Through the help of the British cybersecurity team, the server of Amazon was immediately taken down–one of the quickest reaction times for the scam.
Besides fake endorsements, scams also come in the form of the fake news article. Again, Branson was involved in this case, but this time, the hackers “fabricated” his quotes about the benefits of a cryptocurrency site.
Deceptive quotes such as “Brits are using this to make an average of 450 pounds a day and quitting their jobs!” is usually what could be seen on the platform. Most probably, the target of these scams is the crypto traders in the market.
When an Amazon representative was asked about the issue, he/she did not immediately reply outside the standard business hours.
On the other hand, a NameCheap representative did not give an immediate answer to the question.
Related Article: Coronavirus Themed Cyber Attack Targets UK, One in Every Four Cases Proven COVID-19 Related
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Written by Joseph Henry
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