Protect against COVID-19 themed malicious cyber activity

COVID-19 has disrupted almost every sector, but being in cyber security, we’ve seen a particular laser focus on its protection in the wake of the pandemic. Malicious cyber actors are actively targeting individuals and Australian organisations with COVID-19 related scams and phishing emails. In fact, the Australian Government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has announced their strong encouragement that organisations and individuals remain vigilant against the threat of coronavirus-themed scams, phishing emails and malicious websites. These incidents are likely to increase in frequency and severity over the coming weeks and months due, in part, to the ease in which existing scam emails and texts can be modified with a COVID-19 theme.

With that, we have made our recommendations for protection against this kind of activity, providing practical cyber security advice that can reduce your risk of being impacted. 

Umbrella Web reputation 

Umbrella protects at the DNS-layer, stopping threats before they ever reach a client’s network or endpoints. On-network and off-network protection by blocking malware, phishing, and command and control callbacks will offer you an extra level of protection.

End Point AMP Anti Virus

This is visibility into the files and processes running on your endpoints. If a malicious file is downloaded and executed, are you able to track its history and actions?

Email Security AMP

Protect against phishing, business email compromise, and spam with Cisco Email Security. Provides an additional layer of protection for Office 365 users.

Multi Factor Authentication DUO MFA

Verify users' identities, gain visibility into every device, and enforce adaptive policies to secure access to every application.

The malicious COVID-19 websites are designed to look legitimate or impersonate well-known organisations, making it difficult for individuals to detect. Cybercriminals use them to install computer viruses onto people’s devices, such as banking Trojans or different variants of ransomware. In other cases, they seek to harvest user credentials, such as personal identification, passwords and bank details, which are then used to gain access to the user’s networks, devices or online financial accounts.  

Contact us today for more information on how you can ensure you’re protected against COVID-related cyber attacks.