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| United Nations: Cybercrime is on the rise during a pandemic |
Cybercrime is on the increase dramatically during the pandemic, as officials from the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office said: Reports indicate phishing sites increased 350% in the first quarter of this year.
Phishing attacks have targeted hospitals and medical systems and impeded their efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vladimir Voronkov told the United Nations Security Council that the sudden increase in phishing sites is part of the massive increase in cyber crime in recent months.
He said: The United Nations and world experts do not yet fully understand the repercussions and consequences of this epidemic on global peace and security, especially organized crime and terrorism.
Voronkov added, “We know that terrorists are taking advantage of massive economic turmoil and (COVID-19) problems to spread fear, hatred, division, extremism, recruiting new followers, and using the Internet during the pandemic. The increase in cybercrime has exacerbated this problem.”
He said: The hypothetical conference on combating terrorism, which lasted for a week, brought together representatives from 134 countries, 88 civil society organizations and the private sector, 47 international and regional organizations and 40 United Nations organizations.
Voronkov stressed that the discussions show a common understanding and concern that terrorists are profiting from illicit trafficking in drugs, property, natural resources and cultural relics, as well as kidnapping, extortion and other heinous crimes. .
He said: The member states of the United Nations focus on addressing health emergencies and humanitarian crises resulting from (Covid-19), but urges them not to forget the threat of terrorism.
There are several reports that the (COVID-19) attackers have been used as part of a phishing campaign.
In April, Google issued a warning to people who work from home, saying it sent phishing emails related to the phone virus.
The company said: Of the 100 million fraudulent emails that are blocked on Gmail every day, about 18 million are associated with the outbreak.
The World Health Organization also reported that phishing increased in April because emails impersonating WHO officials target private people.
The scam attempted to donate to fake websites after losing 450 valid email addresses and passwords to WHO online.