In the world we live in, the unfortunate reality resides in the fact there are individuals and groups that thrive off of global catastrophes, health pandemics, societal unrest and calamities. People prey upon others during a time where uncertainty and discomfort have become the "new norm."
Cybercriminals are continuing to advantage of this period of diminishing awareness. In March alone, there was a reported 2000% increase in malicious online activity due to COVID-19 themed ransomware and phishing attacks. Read ahead to learn about four (4) best practices to protect yourself from being a new statistic and falling into such traps!
There is a strong correlation between the occurrence of major regional and global events and accompanying spikes in cybercrime activity. These digital crimes usually start with social engineering techniques designed to psychologically manipulate targets into performing desired actions such as clicking on a malicious link or divulging confidential information. Examples are observed when there is a natural disaster, a major government election or, as we have seen most recently, during a global health pandemic.
