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Kaspersky’s new report says that phishers carried out more targeted attacks on consumers and small businesses.
Consumers and businesses in the United Arab Emirates suffered more than 600,000 phishing attacks at the height of Covid-19’s internal measures, according to Kaspersky’s findings.
Between April and the end of June, more than 2.57 million phishing attacks were detected across the Middle East, from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, the global cybersecurity company said.
Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, experienced 973,061 phishing attacks through cybercriminals this quarter, the highest in the region. Then came the United Arab Emirates with 617,347 attacks, Egypt (492,532), Oman (193,379), Qatar (128,356), Kuwait (106,245) and Bahrain (67,581), according to Kaspersky data.
“In summarizing the results, we assume that Covid-19 would be the main topic of spammers and phishers in recent months. And it happened,” said Tatyana Sidorina, Kaspersky’s security expert.
“While there were few spam messages sent without mentioning the pandemic, phishers adapted their old plans to make them applicable to the existing news schedule, as well as to offer new tricks.”
Phishing is one of the oldest cybercrime bureaucracies, in which users are lured to a site and forced to enter their non-public data. This would likely come with monetary credentials, such as bank account passwords and payment card details, or login details for social media accounts. This leads to cash theft or the commitment of corporate networks.
A report through generation security firm McAfee in May warned of a global build-up of cybercrime activity since March, as they tried to take advantage of the panic and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
The really large increase in the number of other people fleeing the house during the pandemic provides more opportunities for cybercriminals to send phishing emails, according to industry experts. Before the pandemic, more workers worked in offices with complex security systems to protect them from cyberattacks.
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Another in June through the Dubai Future Foundation revealed a 600% increase in phishing emails recorded since February, with high-risk fitness services.
Cybercriminals have resorted to a series of new tricks to scam those suffering from phishing, from human resources redundancy emails to attacks disguised as delivery notifications, Kaspersky said.
“At the height of the pandemic, letter and package delivery organizations were in a hurry to notify recipients of imaginable delays. These are the types of emails that the scammers began to simulate, and those affected were asked to open an attachment to locate a warehouse where they can retrieve a shipment that was unsuccessful at their destination,” Kaskpersky said in the report.
Another new strategy used through pandemic cybercriminals was to send emails to unsuspecting users about adjustments to medical leave procedures or arbitrary layoffs. These emails regularly include virus-loaded attachments that can be used to download and install encryptors.
Kaspersky experts advise users to verify the online response in unknown messages, whether it’s the online page it’s going to, the link in a message, and even the sender’s email to ensure its authenticity.
Users are asked not to enter their credentials if they are unsure of the authenticity and security of the website. If you entered your login and password details on a fake page, call your bank or payment provider to replace your password, you pleaded with the cybersecurity company.