Red Mosquito - Blog

Recent reports say that the quantity of Covid 19 scams and hacks directed at homeworkers during the Coronavirus lockdown has grown considerably. The variation and sophistication of the attacks is also on the rise reported Darktrace in a recent article in The Guardian newspaper. Exploitation of homeworkers during the Covid 19 shutdown has increasingly become the focus of hackers and cyber criminals. This is a very valid point and is something that we at RedMosquito are also seeing.

Hackers attack those working from home knowing that they may lack guidance and support from their employer. Playing on this theme the attacks expect that guards are down more than they might usually be. This stands to reason as people working from home may have childcare to provide or sick relatives to care for. Homeworkers can find this juggling difficult while doing a day’s work. This is something that they normally do where distractions are kept to a minimum.

A recent attack spotted involved a bogus link sent in email to staff at a customer. See the above graphic for more information. A shared file containing details of staff bonuses supposedly to be paid in June 2020 is the target of the link. This devious tactic plays on job security fears and loss of income amongst workers. A click on the bogus link starts a phishing attempt as it requires the victim to attempt to log in to a bogus Microsoft account.

You Do Have Defences

You do need to defend against this kind of attack. The good news is that there is one simple thing that all employers can do. This significantly reduces the harm caused should you be fooled by an email such as that described above. It’s called two-factor authentication and it is very effective. Read more about this in our recent blog here.

As effective as this can be in your armoury of cyber defences during Covid 19 it is still true to say that training and knowledge is key. In a recent blogpost we discussed the ways that a user can spot phishing attacks, scams and hacks. If you are not familiar with the advice we gave on this then perhaps now would be a good time to revise the subject. More information can be found on this topic in our blog here.

In any case if you suspect you have been a victim of such a scam or hack attack it is important to talk to an expert fast. The response to this type of problem needs to be quick and effective. RedMosquito have a lot of experience in dealing with the aftermath of Covid 19 hacking attacks. We gain many customers by this route. Not all IT support providers are equal and not all have the breadth of knowledge require to stay abreast of today’s cyber security challenges.

Covid 19 scams and hacks don’t need to happen to you. Prepare now for success, talk to RedMosquito – the IT support experts. Call 0141 348 7950 for a free no-obligation initial consultation.