• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Our Services
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Top Nav Social Icons

Mobile ID World

Mobile ID World

Identification Revolution

Jumio next-generation of digital ID verification.
  • Mobile ID
    • What Is Mobile ID?
    • Identity Associations
    • Premier Partners
    • FAQ
  • News
  • Solutions
    • Behavioral
    • Facial Recognition
    • Fingerprint Biometrics
    • Iris Biometrics
    • Second Factor
    • Smart Cards
    • Smartphones
    • Vital
    • Voice
    • Wearable Tech
    • Other
  • Applications
    • Access Control
    • Cloud Technology
    • Commerce
    • Enterprise
    • Healthcare
    • Identification
    • Internet of Things
    • Law Enforcement
    • Strong Online Authentication
  • Exclusive
    • Interviews
    • Featured Articles
    • Podcasts
  • Companies
  • Events

EFF Warns of Coronavirus-themed Phishing Attacks

March 23, 2020

“These were all good practices before the age of COVID-19, of course, but with the sense of panic surrounding the virus, there’s good reason to be even more vigilant than usual.”

EFF Warns of Coronavirus-themed Phishing Attacks

As with so many other crises, the COVID-19 pandemic is opening up new opportunities for fraudsters, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation is looking to keep people informed about the renewed risk of phishing attacks predicated on coronavirus panic.

In a new blog post on the organization’s website, the EFF explains that COVID-19 themed social media and email attacks have already begun to emerge. They target people with messaging suggesting that a given link will let them sign up for a vaccine, or that users must download special information about the virus, and so on – all in a bid to collect end users’ sensitive personal data, or get them to download trojan viruses or ransomware.

To help people avoid falling prey to such attacks, the EFF lays out several guidelines:

  • Check a sender’s email address to see if it matches who they claim to be in the message.
  • Hover over a link to see a link’s domain address before clicking.
  • Don’t download anything from strangers.
  • Ask for a co-worker’s opinion if something seems suspicious.

These were all good practices before the age of COVID-19, of course, but with the sense of panic surrounding the virus, there’s good reason to be even more vigilant than usual. Beyond the steps outlined above, the EFF also suggests that a healthy sense of skepticism in general is called for: if an email or social media message sounds too good to be true (such as one offering a free COVID-19 vaccine, for example), or if it demands urgent action, it may not be what it claims to be.

While vigilance about health and hygiene can help to keep people safe from the novel coronavirus, vigilance about phishing attempts can help keep their computers virus-free, too.

Source: EFF

Filed Under: Industry NewsTagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, EFF, Electronic Frontiers Foundation, fraud, identity, pandemic, Personally Identifiable Information, phishing, PII

Related News & Articles

Feitian Joins Microsoft Security Alliance

New Precise Biometrics Integrations Illustrate Business Model

GitLab Announces YubiKey U2F Support

Primary Sidebar

FacePhi Selphi

Register For the FindBiometrics Identity Summit

FacePhi Selphi

Tweets

IDEMIA big box

Sponsored Links

FACEPHI is a global leader in Facial Recognition technology and in Mobile Biometrics technologies. With a strong concentration in the financial sector, FacePhi's product is rapidly becoming a service used by banks all over the world. Its implementation doesn’t just save money, it is also a way to attract clients and build loyalty, while increasing the security of transactions for both the customer and the business. To learn more about FacePhi, visit https://www.facephi.com/en/
FacePhi Selphi

Recent Posts

  • Crédit Agricole Launches Biometric Cards Featuring FPC Tech
  • Yoti Reaches Download Milestone for Mobile ID Solution
  • New Partnership Brings FacePhi’s Selfie Onboarding Tech to Vietnam
  • INTERVIEW: ImageWare CEO Krstin Taylor Discusses Strategy, the Pandemic, Bias, Civil Rights, and More
  • BONAFiDEE Adds Liveness Detection to Visual Biometric Verification Solution
FacePhi Selphi

Footer

  • About Us
  • Company Directory
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Archives

Follow Us

Copyright © 2021 MobileIDWorld