If you follow the news, you know about the much-feared coronavirus that is spreading through China and numerous other countries throughout the world. Similar to the Ebola outbreak in 2014, there has been considerable fear in the United States in large part due to wall-to-wall media coverage and its tendency to spread rapidly from person to person. We've talked in this newsletter numerous times about cybercriminals taking advantage of major disasters and world events to bait people into clicking phishing links, downloading malicious attachments, and leaving their users with a whole host of nasty surprises.
This disaster has been no different from the others, and this time the attackers are leveraging the reputation of the World Health Organization to make their emails seem more authentic. The W.H.O. will never email you directly, especially if you haven't signed up for any of their mailing lists. Stay alert, don't take the bait, and of course, give FrameWork a call if you're unsure whether or not any email is genuine. We're here to help, and can keep you protected from an ever-changing cyber landscape.
If you want to read more about this story, and see photo examples of the emails that attackers are sending, check out the main story on ZDNet HERE.