Covid-19 Related Phishing Attacks Increased By 667%: Barracuda Report

As much of the world grapples with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and how to handle it, the attackers are taking advantage of the widespread discussion of COVID-19 in phishing emails and across the web.

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Barracuda researchers have seen a steady increase in the number of coronavirus COVID-19-related email attacks since January, but they have observed a recent spike in this type of attack, up 667 percent since the end of February.

Between March 1 and March 23, Barracuda Sentinel has detected 467,825 spear-phishing email attacks, and 9,116 of those detections were related to COVID-19, representing about 2 percent of attacks. In comparison, a total of 1,188 coronavirus-related spear-phishing attacks were detected in February, and just 137 were detected in January. Although the overall number of the attacks with a mention of COVID-19 is still low compared to other threats, they are growing quickly. See Image 1.

HIGHLIGHTED THREAT

Coronavirus-Related Phishing — A variety of phishing email campaigns are taking advantage of the heightened focus on COVID-19 to distribute malware, steal credentials, and scam users out of money.

THE DETAILS

Barracuda researchers have seen three main types of phishing attacks using coronavirus COVID-19 themes — scamming, brand impersonation, and business email compromise. Of the coronavirus-related attacks detected by Barracuda Sentinel through March 23, 54 percent were scams, 34 percent were brand impersonation attacks, 11 percent were blackmailrelated, and 1 percent were business email compromise. See Image 2.