The coronavirus outbreak has given another fresh opportunity for hackers.

Thinking about how is coronavirus related to malware? Yes, it has been!

As the reports say, hackers are exploiting the pandemic to spread ‘coronavirus malware’.

Researchers detected two malware campaigns linked to the coronavirus.

One was detected as the Remcos RAT and malware payloads on target devices, circulated as a PDF named ‘Coronavirus safety measures’ with a hidden malicious file.

“It established a TLS protected connection to a file-sharing platform named ‘share.]dmca.]gripe,’ possibly to avoid reputation warnings raised by next-gen firewalls,” researchers told about the malware.

The other was a three-page coronavirus-themed MS Office document, purportedly from the Health Ministry of Ukraine, with malicious macros.

In another case, a study found a specific kind of malware that has infested a coronavirus map application created by John Hopkins Health.

While the real map tracks the COVID-19 outbreak globally, the malware-infested app injects the virus into the viewing devices. All the hackers did was make the best of user interest to stay updated about coronavirus outbreaks.

ALSO READ: How to Build a Cybersecurity Program from the Ground Up?

Another kind of malicious attack involved emails appearing as the official ones from the Ministry of Mongolia warning readers about COVID-19.

“This specific campaign leverages the COVID-19 pandemic to lure victims to trigger the infection chain,” says Check Point Research.

It’s shocking to know that around 4,000 coronavirus-related domains were registered globally, since January 2020.

“Out of these websites, 3 percent are malicious and an additional 5 percent are suspicious. Coronavirus-related domains are 50 percent more likely to be malicious than other domains registered at the same period,” says Check Point in a statement on March 18, 2020.

ALSO READ: Cybersecurity industry predictions for 2020 and beyond

Contact Us