13 percent of Q1 phishing attacks related to COVID-19

In the first quarter of 2020 phishing attacks increased by 22.5 percent compared to the end of 2019, and 13 percent of all phishing was related to COVID-19. A new report from Positive Technologies also shows that in Q1 there were 23 very active APT groups whose attacks targeted mostly government agencies, industrial, finance, and medical institutions. "Hackers were quick to use common concerns about coronavirus as lures in phishing emails," says Yana Avezova, Positive Technologies analyst. "An estimated 13 percent of all phishing emails in Q1 2020 were related to COVID-19. Of those, about a half (44 percent) targeted… [Continue Reading]