2020: The Year of Fake News, Covid-19 Scams and Ransomware | Antivirus Software

The past year has been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic which affects the whole world, including the digital sphere. who takes a look at some of the top cyber threats of 2020, found that cybercriminals are exploiting the pandemic to their advantage, by spreading scams and phishing attacks in an attempt to take advantage of individual vulnerabilities in difficult times. Ransomware attacks have continued to proliferate this year, ruthlessly attacking healthcare facilities. Cybercriminals then began to spread mobile adware more massively,

 

COVID-19 Counterfeits and Scams

In addition to fake news, fake stores and malware related to COVID-19 surfaced in 2020. A number of scams have circulated designed to take advantage of people searching for information about the virus and related matters, such as the provision of masks and respirators. has uncovered malicious ad campaigns tailored to the situation, bogus stores and products, such as remedies and drugs for the virus “sold” online. 

Fake news was circulated during the pandemic, including those claiming that Bill Gates created or funded the creation of COVID-19 in order to sell vaccines and take over the world. Other examples of fake news have emerged during the health crisis, notably with conspiracy theorists, who imagine democratic governments using the virus as a means to transform their systems into autocracies, or the theory that 5G is responsible for the spread of the virus.

“  To sum up in 2020, things weren't always what they seemed to be. It has been a year punctuated by fake news and scams, deceiving users while profiting from the pandemic, says Luis Corrons, security evangelist at. Cybercriminals take advantage of trends to ensure they attract as many potential victims as possible. We have observed that they tailor their attacks to take advantage of the crisis, as people are hungry for information and then potentially become more susceptible to victimization. Additionally, with the lockdowns and restrictions in place, individuals are more often online. The number of potential victims of cybercriminals has therefore probably also increased ”.

 

Ransomware Attacks

Earlier this year, saw an increase in ransomware attacks during the first months of the pandemic. This type of attack increased by 20% in March and April compared to January and February of this year. Multiple ransomware attacks have targeted hospitals after cybercriminals have publicly declared that they will stop targeting these facilities.  has helped hospitals and other businesses infected with ransomware, including Brno University Hospital in the Czech Republic. The latter, which is also a screening centre for the coronavirus, was infected with Defray777. Healthcare facilities have been attacked by Maze ransomware, which steals data before encrypting it and threatens to disclose the data held hostage if the ransom is not paid. This year,

In a very unfortunate case this year, a patient lost her life because a ransomware attack forced her to be transferred to another hospital. As healthcare establishments are already overloaded at present, it is obvious that such a cyberattack is particularly complicated to manage during periods of crisis ”.

In addition to ransomware attacks against healthcare establishments, companies like Garmin, Sopra Steria, and Software AG, as well as cities, including Vincennes and Alfortville, have also been victims. Notable victims of ransomware attacks in 2020, who have paid ransoms in the millions, include the University of California at San Francisco, Travelex, and defence contractor Communications & Power Industries (CPI) in California.

 

The Challenges of Teleworking

The pandemic has forced many companies to send their employees home to work remotely. According to a survey conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, nearly half of European employees surveyed worked from home at least part-time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and among these, a third said they worked exclusively from home. Employees have brought professional devices home, which has broadened the attack surface for businesses. The infrastructure of the home network is generally not as secure as that of a corporate network. Moreover, As millions of workers around the world use Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on a daily basis to access their corporate network remotely, this tool has become a powerful vector for cyber attacks. In 2020, saw an increase in attacks specifically designed to exploit RDP to execute widespread ransomware attacks.

“  Not all companies were ready to have their employees work from home under such tight deadlines, and not all home networks were sufficiently secure, which put companies at increased risk,” says Corrons. According to Gartner, PC shipments in the EMEA region increased by 20% in the second quarter of 2020, which is probably due to the fact that companies bought PCs to allow their employees to work from home.

 

The Booming Deepfakes

Deepfakes, video or audio recording made or modified using artificial intelligence, especially those related to pornography, appeared in 2020, including explicit Deepfakes from TikTok users. Speaking at Connected Cybersec & AI virtual conference, UC Berkeley Professor Hany Farid observed that technology evolves rapidly, making it easier and easier to create deep fakes and that the speed at which Deepfakes can spread is also increasing as a result of social media. Mr Farid also stressed that "nothing must be real anymore" which means that individuals will believe false representations, especially when it comes to political Deepfakes. 

 

Phishing Attacks

Phishing is a lucrative way to steal people's money and personal information. This is a technique increasingly used by cybercriminals that have not weakened in 2020. While phishing attacks linked to COVID-19 saw a sharp rise in March, with only 7.9% of phishing attacks using virus-related themes during this month, the impact on total phishing volume remained low, with less than 1% of phishing attacks exploiting the coronavirus globally during the year.

 

Use of Social Media by Creators of Mobile Adware

Of all the Android threats detected in 2020, adware was the most numerous, with a share of nearly 50% in the first quarter, over 27% in the second quarter and 29% in the third quarter. The HiddenAds family, a Trojan horse disguised as a safe and useful app, but which serves intrusive ads, has stood out in a special way. It was indeed continuously found on the Google Play Store during the year. has also exposed fraudulent applications from the Apple App Store. On its own, detected more than 50 fraudulent apps on Google Play and Apple App Stores in 2020, which had to be removed by security teams at Google and Apple.

“  Adware developers have increasingly used social media in 2020, as marketers would, to increase app downloads, ” said Jakub Vávra, Threat Analyst at. Users reported that they were being targeted by ads promoting adware apps on YouTube, and in September we saw adware spread through profiles on TikTok. The popularity of this social media makes it an attractive advertising platform, also for cybercriminals, to target a younger audience  ”.

 

Stalkerware

Stalkerware is a developing category of malware with difficult and dangerous implications. drew a parallel between the use of stalker was and the lockdown period in the spring. Stalkerware is usually installed without the victim's knowledge on their cell phone by so-called friends, jealous spouses and partners, ex-partners and even worried relatives. They make it possible to physically locate the victim, to monitor the sites visited on the internet, text messages and phone calls.

Warning Labs discovered a 51% improvement in spyware and stalker was within March and June, compared to the first two months of the year. At the same time, 3919, the emergency telephone number for women victims of domestic violence in France, was dialled 9,906 times in April 2020 (compared to 5,098 times the same month in 2019).

 

Retrospective
"The pandemic has not calmed cybercriminals, who have preferably seized the moment to spend more time online to adapt old ways to spread various types of frauds and scams and to target large companies with ransomware,  concludes Luis Corrons. Technology today is a great resource that allows us all to stay connected, to continue to communicate and to work. However, we advise people to be extra vigilant and attentive to what they see online and double-check things they come across before trusting news, apps, links, sales offer and even content. video, because they could be manipulated. "

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