COVID-19 threats are lurking around- Beware

With the outbreak of Corona virus, cyber criminals are taking every possible measure to make the best out of it. It has come as an opportunity for them that has allowed them to infect new threats into users’ computers. Moreover, they are using this as an opportunity and have started to offer face masks that are not the real face masks but a new form of threat. Earlier the scammer was focusing on ‘vehicle to drive’ scams but now they have shifted their focus to selling Blood and face masks.

What is McAfee’s take on it?

McAfee has always given its customers top priority by providing them with daily updates, guidelines to stay protected and how they can secure their valuable data. McAfee also shares its views on safety tips while working from home. But, still, people are unaware of some of the scams, so in this article, we are going to discuss those scams in detail to give you a deeper insight into this practice.

COVID-19 related mobile threats

According to the researches conducted at McAfee Labs, it was found out that there are a number of Android apps that have been developed in reference to this disease. The “Corona Safety Mask” is one such app that is being used by scammers to infect a user’s device with malicious codes. The researchers found out that permissions needed by this app are somewhat suspicious. The app requires full access to the internet so that it can easily read the data available on your device. Moreover, a user needs to allow Contact permission as well as to send SMS on his device.

What happens when you download such an app?

By downloading the app, one can order a face mask by sitting at home. But, whenever you do so, it redirects you to a certain website which then sends SMS with abusive links to your contacts. Other than this, there are enough articles available online regarding this pandemic. In these articles, you will find malicious links incorporated in it.

A glance at some more scams

In the past, there were various examples of such situations that were used by scammer for their gain. Not only this, they consider such troublesome situations as the best opportunity to hack in someone else’s system. Therefore, McAfee conducted a survey as well where the following happenings were found out:

• An onion website was selling masks online
• There was a channel on Telegram that has a number of sellers of masks

Conclusion

By looking at such scenarios, all we can say is keep yourself updated with the latest information about everything going around you. Do not visit an inauthentic website about which you have never heard before. It is advised to beware of phishing emails or video conferencing scams. Keep visiting McAfee’s website for the latest blog posts so that you can stay one step ahead of such crimes. Do not forget to deploy McAfee Safe Family on your devices so that you can stay at top of the security level. Stay vigilant if you are working from home and do not forget to discuss the risks with your family.