Beware - these are the worldwide hotspots for coronavirus malware

Beware - these are the worldwide hotspots for coronavirus malware

UK, India, and Brazil all identified by Google Cloud as cybercrime centers

Malware associated with the worldwide coronavirus pandemic is constant to be a threat to consumers around the world, new research has found.

Despite many countries now hoping to be over the worst of the pandemic, a report from Google Cloud has shown that unfortunately an outsized number of criminals and online fraudsters still spread coronavirus-themed malware and scams.

The company has detected a big rise in threats and scams, including coronavirus related malware, phishing, and spam emails, across most of the planet.

Coronavirus scams

"As the planet continues to adapt to the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber threats are evolving also. From mimicking stimulus payments to providing purchase opportunities for items briefly supply, bad actors are tailoring attacks to mimic authoritative agencies or exploit fear of the pandemic," noted Neil Kumaran, Product Manager, Gmail Security, and Sam Lugani, Lead Security PMM, G Suite & GCP platform.

Google Cloud's report notes that several "regional hotspots" were detected in its investigation, each contributing high volumes of malware.

This includes the united kingdom, which has seen an increase in attackers imitating public sector organizations after its government announced measures to assist businesses, with attacks often masquerading as Google itself.

In India, Google Cloud noted a rise in scams targeting Aarogya Setu, an initiative by the Indian Government to attach people with essential health services, also as a rise in phishing scams targeting insurance companies as more citizens buy insurance.

Lastly in Brazil, there has been a growth in phishing attacks targeting streaming services as more people are turning to video-on-demand applications in lockdown.

Kumaran claimed that Gmail, "continues to dam quite 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching our users". the corporate is looking to counter new and evolving threats using AI-based protection including a deep-learning-based malware scanner that examines more than 300 billion documents hebdomadally.

"These protections, newly developed and already existing, have allowed us to react quickly and effectively to COVID-19-related threats, and can allow us to adapt quickly to new ones," Kumaran said.




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