Computer viruses behind the Covid-19 virus

Today, hundreds of applications have been designed for the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Websites, too. However all these platforms are not what they seem to be. Indeed, cyber criminals have decided on their side to take advantage of the pandemic as much as they can. And for this, they design, like the official institutions of pandemic, but not for the same reasons, digital platforms such as websites or applications to mislead web users increasingly worried about looking for reliable information about the disease.

This article will also interest you: The coronavirus: the lure of choice for hackers

Through this strategy, they are able to infiltrate computer systems and home networks, and even social networks to steal important data or conduct other cybercrime activities. Indeed, several domain names have been registered in recent times and are directly related to coronavirus. According to specialists half of his links are suspicious, so could be controlled by potential hackers.

"With the Covid-19 crisis, hackers are not out of the question. The containment imposed in many countries has led companies to telework their employees. But home computing tools can be far more vulnerable than software and infrastructure deployed in the office. This is the risk of shadow IT, the personal tools used for business purposes, to which we can add the mobile phone where dubious applications are sometimes downloaded. Nathalie Hernandez, a journalist, noted. In addition, Romain Waller, head of Ercom's secure communications solutions, explains that computer threats take many forms and that's not all. It's not just hackers who take advantage of it. Apparently, some authorities saw it as a boon to extend their surveillance on their populations. According to the American cybersecurity company called Lockout, the Libyan authorities also set up an Android application that can spy on the population. This application takes the name Corona live 1.1. Application supposed to give official and real time some information related to the expansion of the COVID-19 virus, but which actually hides a malware to spy on users but also to take control of certain features of the infected device such as the microphone, the camera or even the messages.

In addition, the coronavirus pandemic, is a vector of global cyber-malveillance. Already at the beginning of the epidemic this had been found in Asia. "From the beginning of the epidemic, attacks have begun. Their progression was observed at the same time as that of the virus," observes Romain Waller of Ercom. "[La contamination est partie] from Asia. ».According to the security company FireEyes, there has been an increase in cybercrime activity from some Chinese pirate groups. And this since the beginning of the January 2020 as viruses began to spread more and more outside China. The cybersecurity firm has reported that 75% of its customers in the telecommunications, humanitarian and telecommunications sectors health, was a victim of his hackers. What she described as " one of China's largest cyber-espionage campaigns in recent years. Years. »

To combat this upsurge in cyber-malware, several cybersecurity experts have decided to come together to block malware and cyberattacks taking advantage of the pandemic. More than 400 volunteers make up this new team, including experts from major companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.

Now access an unlimited number of passwords: