The World Health Organization (OMS), one of the leading agencies working to tackle the current coronavirus crisis, has seen a "dramatic" increase in cyberattacks since the pandemic began.
The WHO said it has seen a five-fold increase in the number of cyber attacks targeting its members, and email scams targeting its users. The health organization noted that around 450 OMS active email addresses and passwords have recently been leaked online, along with those of thousands of people working on a response to the coronavirus.
Earlier this week it was revealed that email addresses of WHO and other organizations facing COVID-19 had been leaked online. More sophisticated scammers and pirate groups have seized the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity, hoping to take advantage of the fear and uncertainty created by the spread of the virus and the confusion caused by the rapid shift to remote work, which could leave some workers more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Scammers are trying to steal details about credit cards or passwords that they can use for fraud. Likewise, government-backed pirate groups are also seizing the opportunity to carry out espionage, even as governments try to address the global health threat.
The OMS said it is now working with the private sector to establish more robust internal systems and to strengthen security measures, and is educating its teams on cybersecurity risks.
The health organization also noted that there has been an increase in the number of scammers posing as phishing emails, in order to trick people into giving money to scammers instead of the Solidarity Response Fund. of COVID-19.
said OMS CIO Bernardo Mariano.
We are grateful for the alerts we have received from member countries and the security sector. We are all together in this fight
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