Impacts of Corona Virus on Cyber Security and Role of SSL – Explained

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Impacts of Corona Virus on Cyber Security and
Role of SSL Explained
Coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic, The
World Health Organization has already declared.
And it is effecting on human lives and affecting
the economy, and internet security is also at
high risk. Hackers are finding new ways to be
exploited, affecting cyber security risks for
organizations and individuals. Since the
majority of the global population is on
coronavirus lockdown, online channels has
considerably increased, more and more online
activities are conducted, including e-services,
online meetings, financing, and shopping,
putting online security at high risk. If you look
at the study conducted by Cynet, you will see a
high spike in phishing attacks in Italy, the
most-hit region by the novel corona. Below, we
will look into some of the effects on cyber
security caused by the coronavirus and how
to alleviate the risk. Impact within healthcare
cyber security Hackers are taking advantage of
the plague, and sending phishing emails, acting
themselves as healthcare organizations in an
attempt to steal credentials and transfer
malware. In such cases, people have been in
receipt of an email that claims to be from
Australia HealthCare, distribution COVID-19
prevention instructions. Since the name of the
healthcare company sounds credible, people are
being attracted to click on the link, which takes
them to a fake Adobe website to enter their
important credentials.
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No vaccine or medicine has been found yet that
can cure the novel virus disease. You need to
keep yourself well-informed with the defensive
measures to fight the new coronavirus issued by
WHO and follow them strictly to keep yourself and
your family safe. Role of SSL
Certificate People have started small
businesses from their homes due to this pandemic.
But the risk of getting cyber attacks has also
increased. Single domain SSL certificate plays an
important role to keep their single website
secured and safe from the hackers.
How to alleviate the risk? The WHO has already
put up a warning message about the hackers
attempting to pose themselves as WHO and steal
money and information. If you come across a
message that claims to be from a healthcare
organization, then make sure to verify their
authenticity before you respond. Moreover, its
vital to use your logic. There is no purpose why
anyone will request you to share your username
and password while accessing public
information. Also, if you have already gone into
a trap and given out your data, instantly change
your credentials on all the web sites where you
have used them. Impact on social media users The
MS-ISAC reported that as of February 1, 2020, the
registration of names with the phrase
coronavirus has been increased. All these
domains have a few common words like help,
relief, victims, and recover. You should
be suspicious with these domains. In the coming
days, more such domain registrations are likely
to follow. The probability of spreading
propaganda during a pandemic is high. Scammers
often use social media to post incorrect
information and links to malicious websites. They
might request your login credentials to steal
information, and if you click on links or open
malicious attachments, your device might be
compromised. How to alleviate the risk? You
should check the legitimacy of such posts seen on
social media. Be super vigilant when you reply to
individual appeals for financial aid posted on
social media. Its better to ignore spam mails
and never click on links found in those emails.
And dont give any importance to the request and
pass on your personal or financial information in
an email or to a suspicious web site. Impact on
businesses that are allowing employees to
work-from-home Now many organizations are issuing
compulsory work-from-home rules to help limit the
risks posed by the outbreak of COVID-19. In a
survey, nearly 85 of business staff are working
from their homes. But cyber security experts
caution that those remote setups encourage
hackers and pose risks. As per a recent CNBC
flash survey, More than 36 of officials on the
CNBC Technology Executive Council stated that
cyber thieves are taking advantage of the present
condition as more and more staff are working
from home.
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Many staff are using a VPN to access the
companys network remotely. And when you use a
VPN, it exposes sensitive data to security risks
even more so with the implementation of cloud
services. How to ease the risk? Start patching
software you have installed frequently.
Businesses can try to come up with a disaster
recovery plan to tackle the issues of a remote
workforce. The plan must include timely solutions
to deal with all the related problems. Also, be
wary of fake IT-themed websites that are on the
rise. There are scammers trying to trick you
into giving up information or transferring
malware by pretending to be helpdesk
agents. Impact on online sellers and buyers Since
the outbreak of corona, scammers marketing
products related to the treatment or cure of
COVID- 19 are on the rise. If you are
maintaining multiple websites then you must
ensure that you have multi- domain wildcard SSL
certificates installed on them. Reportedly, more
than a million of such products have been removed
from Amazon and other online websites for making
false claims, and several thousands of products
that were trying to price gouge customers were
also removed. Websites like Amazon that use
third-party sellers were seen increasing, such as
hand sanitizers and face masks. How to
alleviate the risk? Dont fall victim to those
scams. Keep yourself up to date not only with the
news of the virus but also with the cyber-crime
issues taking place and take precautionary
measures in case you become a victim.
Wrapping-Up While individuals overall are
attempting to persevere the fatal imperceptible
coronavirus, there are as yet pernicious con
artists exploiting the circumstance. Digital
dangers were at that point a major issue even
well before the pandemic, however now, the issues
have deteriorated. Also, according to Reuters,
the World Wellbeing Association is confronting an
expansion in digital assaults as it is putting
forth an attempt to build up a worldwide
reaction to the crown pandemic. Many phony WHO
destinations are being set up trying to take cash
and touchy data from general society just as to
assemble passwords from various organization
staff.