Comment on fraudulent COVID domains
December 2020 by Jeremy Hendy, CEO at Skurio
Following the recent news that fraudulent, fake domains have been created imposing pharmaceutical companies who are offering COVID-19 treatments, Skurio CEO Jeremy Hendy gives the following comment:
Cybercriminals are opportunistic in nature and it is no surprise they are using the COVID-19 pandemic to their advantage. Any time there is a popular event it is inevitable that scammers will be circling looking to capitalise.
Malicious domain registrations are a growing problem and something that both companies and consumers must be wary of. This story in particular highlights why the awareness of fake domains, which, utilises user oversights to trick people into believing they are visiting a genuine site, is an increasingly important issue. These compromised domains can be used by bad actors for social engineering attacks that defraud individuals and steal personal data.
Consumers should stay ultra-vigilant of vaccine-related treatments to avoid giving criminals a free pass to their most valuable data. A well-crafted website can look convincing: individuals must educate themselves in what to look out for, be suspicious of every site and must forward any suspected fraudulent sites to the NCSC phishing reporting service. (report@phishing.gov.uk).