Hackers Target Companies with Coronavirus Scams

Criminals are using concerns about the coronavirus epidemic to spread infections of their own.

They are forging emails mentioning the outbreak that appear to be from business partners or public institutions in an effort to get users to open the messages, unleashing malware.

The number of malicious emails mentioning the coronavirus has increased significantly since the end of January, according to cybersecurity firm Proofpoint Inc., which is monitoring the activity. The company recently assigned an analyst to track coronavirus threats, something it hasn’t done for prior hacking campaigns related to disasters or major public events, said Sherrod DeGrippo, Proofpoint’s senior director of threat research and detection. Proofpoint analysts now see multiple email campaigns mentioning the coronavirus every workday.