The link between COVID-19 and cyber threats

The impact of the health crisis was also felt in relation to the activity of cybercriminals. In the first half of the year they organized themselves in order to leverage new uses and habits of users: this is what emerges from the Mid-Year edition of the Threat Landscape Report 2020 compiled by Bitdefender. At the end of the article the link to consult the full version of the document.

The Threat Landscape Report 2020 by Bitdefender

Six months dominated by the coronavirus theme according to what emerges from the analysis of malware, attacks ransomware and other types of cyber threats in circulation. Below is a summary of the salient points that emerged:

seven-fold increase in reports relating to ransomware compared to the same period of the previous year; 40% of emails referring to COVID-19 are actually spam; 55.73% of threats targeting IoT networks or devices are based on port-scanning attacks; Android devices in particular ended up in the crosshairs of the bad guys during the darkest period of the crisis; cybercriminals have focused more on social engineering than on creating sophisticated malware. Two other hot topics for the spread of malicious code and scams were those related to travel (the restrictive measures have effectively prevented them for some time) and online dating with scams aimed at users of dating applications and targeted spam campaigns deployed during the months of forced isolation.

Source: Bitdefender (PDF)