Insights
Cybersecurity Alert: COVID-19 & Cybersecurity
on March 12, 2020
Stay vigilant! COVID-19 (aka the coronavirus) has health care experts around the world scrambling. Recently being named a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 has caused global concern for health and well-being due to its rapid spread throughout many countries, including The United States.
As a confirmed pandemic and worldwide health scare, situations like this create the perfect opportunity for scammers and fraudsters to prey. Unfortunately, during this global health care concern, we have seen an uptick in hackers using COVID-19 to execute scams and frauds in the name of providing information or products to ward off the risk of contracting COVID-19 or seek information from online users. It has become so widespread that Attorney Generals around the country are issuing warnings to consumers to be wary and protect themselves against frauds related to coronavirus.
Fake social media posts and online articles, as well as, phishing emails and smishing SMS texts with malicious links are being used to obtain personal information from individuals, to obtain login credentials and to attempt to implant malware onto unsuspecting users’ computers or network systems.
Consumers and businesses alike should not provide any personal information, login credentials or monetary payments through any email or SMS text mechanisms invoking COVID-19 panic. As we all remain on high alert for COVID-19 please be extra cautious in the online world as well for these types of fraud.
How Brouse Can Help
Brouse McDowell’s Cybersecurity team provides guidance and legal advice for data breaches. We also provide proactive solutions for companies to defend against cyber-attacks and events. We offer legal services related to data privacy and cybersecurity, including pre-breach and cybersecurity planning services, cybersecurity and data privacy transactional services, data regulatory compliance services, breach response and disclosure obligation services, cyber liability insurance review, and any related litigation issues regarding cybersecurity and data breaches (investigation, defense, insurance recovery and response). Please contact us for more information and to learn how we can partner with you.
As a confirmed pandemic and worldwide health scare, situations like this create the perfect opportunity for scammers and fraudsters to prey. Unfortunately, during this global health care concern, we have seen an uptick in hackers using COVID-19 to execute scams and frauds in the name of providing information or products to ward off the risk of contracting COVID-19 or seek information from online users. It has become so widespread that Attorney Generals around the country are issuing warnings to consumers to be wary and protect themselves against frauds related to coronavirus.
Fake social media posts and online articles, as well as, phishing emails and smishing SMS texts with malicious links are being used to obtain personal information from individuals, to obtain login credentials and to attempt to implant malware onto unsuspecting users’ computers or network systems.
Consumers and businesses alike should not provide any personal information, login credentials or monetary payments through any email or SMS text mechanisms invoking COVID-19 panic. As we all remain on high alert for COVID-19 please be extra cautious in the online world as well for these types of fraud.
How Brouse Can Help
Brouse McDowell’s Cybersecurity team provides guidance and legal advice for data breaches. We also provide proactive solutions for companies to defend against cyber-attacks and events. We offer legal services related to data privacy and cybersecurity, including pre-breach and cybersecurity planning services, cybersecurity and data privacy transactional services, data regulatory compliance services, breach response and disclosure obligation services, cyber liability insurance review, and any related litigation issues regarding cybersecurity and data breaches (investigation, defense, insurance recovery and response). Please contact us for more information and to learn how we can partner with you.
Share Article Via
