Blog Post #8

https://www.cisomag.com/international-cybersecurity-experts-come-together-to-fight-covid-19-related-cyberthreats/

And another post about Coronavirus! Kind of. With the pandemic raging on and things not even really at a culminating point (the calm before the storm so to speak) there are always going to be people out there trying to take advantage of the panic and confusion. Previously, one of these blog posts focused on some early attempts to capitalize on Coronavirus. This post however, focuses on a “vigilante” Cybersecurity group who have taken to calling themselves, “COVID-19 CTI League” or The Cyber Threat Intelligence League. With malicious parties trying to steal user info while masquerading as health care products, entire websites popping up with COVID-19 info, and other ransomware and malware all specifically aimed through a lens of COVID-19, COVID-19 CTI League was formed. Chiefly, their focus is on preventing attacks on health care institutions such as hospitals. The team is a volunteer team of Cybersecurity experts who have already found success defending health care facilities from these types of attacks. One of the members of the team commented on this being the highest amount of phishing he’s ever witnessed. With the end of this pandemic not really in sight, this brings up an interesting idea. If we’re forced to adopt this remote/social distancing lifestyle for much longer than we’re currently anticipating, these kinds of attacks will only become more and more prominent, not less. And, because this is a pandemic, it’s clouded in fear and panic, probably the two best emotions to elicit when stealing one’s information. People will have to become more security savvy, or we’re in for a long road ahead.