Malware, Threat Management

COVID-19 themed phishing campaigns continue to prey on pandemic fears

Threat actors continue to prey on the public’s fears of the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting malware activities disguised behind COVID-19 safety measure documents, according to BleepingComputer. Researchers at Cybaze/Yoroi ZLAb previously reported receiving a CoronaVirusSafetyMeasures_pdf.exe executable that is likely spread as an email attachment in phishing campaigns. The executable turned out to be a Remcos RAT dropper with persistence capabilities and the ability to log the user’s keystrokes. Other researchers also reported emails spreading around that are purported to be from the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China with emergency COVID-19 regulations in English but are actually the Lokibot information stealer malware. The MalwareHunterTeam collective also unveiled a COVID-19 themed document claiming to be from the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine with malicious macros that enable threat actors to perform clipboard stealing, screenshotting and keylogging on victims. The World Health Organization recently warned of phishing attacks impersonating the organization that were designed to steal information.
Jill Aitoro

Jill Aitoro leads editorial for SC Media, and content strategy for parent company CyberRisk Alliance. She 20 years of experience editing and reporting on technology, business and policy.

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