COVID-19

Pierluigi Paganini November 13, 2020
Three APT groups have targeted at least seven COVID-19 vaccine makers

At least the three nation-state actors have targeted seven COVID-19 vaccine makers, they are Strontium, Lazarus Group, and Cerium, Microsoft warns. Microsoft revealed that at least three APT groups have targeted seven companies involved in COVID-19 vaccines research and treatments. “In recent months, we’ve detected cyberattacks from three nation-state actors targeting seven prominent companies directly […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 21, 2020
US DoJ charges Chinese hackers for targeting COVID-19 research

US Justice Department accused two Chinese hackers of stealing trade secrets from companies worldwide and targeting firms developing a COVID-19 vaccine. This week, the US Justice Department accused two Chinese hackers of stealing trade secrets from companies worldwide and recently involved in attacks against firms developing a vaccine for the COVID-19. According to the indictment, […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 16, 2020
UK NCSC blames Russia-linked APT29 for attacks on COVID-19 vaccine research

The UK National Cyber Security Centre says that Russia-linked APT29 group is attempting to steal research data related to potential COVID-19 vaccines. The British National Cyber Security Centre revealed that Russia-linked group APT29 is conducting cyberespionage campaigns targeting UK, US, and Canadian organizations working of the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. “RUSSIAN cyber actors are targeting organisations […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 22, 2020
A new variant of the IcedID banking Trojan spreads using COVID-19 lures

Experts spotted a new version of the IcedID banking trojan that uses steganography to infect victims as part of COVID-19 themed attacks. A new version of the IcedID banking trojan was employed in COVID-19 themed attacks, the new variant uses steganography to infect victims and implements anti-detection capabilities. Researchers at Juniper Threat Labs have spotted […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 21, 2020
230k+ Indonesian COVID-19 patients’ records for sale in the Darkweb

Security researchers at threat intelligence firm Cyble discovered over 230.000 Indonesian COVID-19 patients records leaked in the darknet. As part of a regular Deepweb and Darkweb monitoring activity, researchers at threat intelligence firm Cyble identified a credible threat actor who was selling the database of COVID-19 patients of Indonesia. The threat actor is offering around […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 21, 2020
COVID-19 themed attacks are just a small percentage of the overall threats

Threat actors adapted their tactics to exploit the interest in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft says. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, threat actors started to actively deploy opportunistic campaigns using Coronavirus lures. Anyway, Microsoft says that malware attacks that abused the COVID-19 theme only had a temporary effect on the total volume of […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 16, 2020
Norway suspends its COVID-19 contact tracing app due to privacy concerns

Norway’s health authorities announced the suspension of the design of a COVID-19 contact tracing app due to privacy concerns. In April, Norway launched its contact tracing app dubbed Smittestopp (“Infection stop”) to trace the diffusion of the COVID-19 in the country. A contact tracing app is a tool that could be used to contain new […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 13, 2020
COVID-19 themed attacks increase in Brazil, India, and UK

Threat actors continue to use COVID-19 lures, Google is reporting an increase in Coronavirus-themed phishing attempts in Brazil, India, and the UK. While Coronavirus spreads on a global scale, threat actors continues to use COVID-19 lures, in April Google announced that the Gmail malware scanners have blocked around 18 million phishing and malware emails using […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 09, 2020
Hackers target German Task Force for COVID-19 PPE procurement

Hackers are targeting executives of a German multinational corporation involved in the government supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) against COVID-19. Hackers are targeting executives of a German multinational corporation involved in the government supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). Threat actors are targeting executives of a German multinational corporation part of a government-private sector task force that […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 04, 2020
North Atlantic Council is warning of malicious cyber activities during COVID-19 pandemic

North Atlantic Council issued a statement warning of concerning malicious cyber activities against entities involved in the fight against COVID-19. A statement published by the North Atlantic Council condemns malicious cyber activities that are targeting critical entities involved in the response against the COVID-19 pandemic. Threat actors are targeting healthcare services, hospitals, and research institutes endangering […]