A journalist with expertise on cybercrime reported on Thursday that hackers are trying to take advantage of the public’s concern about the COVID-19 pandemic to infect users’ computers with malware.
“In one scheme, an interactive dashboard of Coronavirus infections and deaths produced by Johns Hopkins University is being used in malicious Web sites (and possibly spam emails) to spread password-stealing malware,” Brain Krebs, a former reporter for The Washington Post who now writes for the blog Krebs On Security, explained in an article on Thursday. “Late last month, a member of several Russian language cybercrime forums began selling a digital Coronavirus infection kit that uses the Hopkins interactive map as part of a Java-based malware deployment scheme. The kit costs $200 if the buyer already has a Java code signing certificate, and $700 if the buyer wishes to just use the seller’s certificate.”
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 map described by Krebs is an interactive dashboard of coronavirus infections and deaths available on the Johns Hopkins University website. The frequently-updated interactive map has been a popular online resource for those following the ongoing pandemic. Continue reading.