Hackers Are Using Coronavirus To Spread Emotet Malware

Several security researchers have found out that hackers are using the fear of the coronavirus outbreak to spread malware via sending emails. As stated by the IBM X-Force experts, hackers are taking advantage of the outbreak and sending spam e-mails to the potential victims in Japan.

As reported by the Tech Republic the mails impersonated as government emails with valid addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail IDs. It claims that the coronavirus has affected their country and soon going to create a situation of chaos and asks the receiver to open an attached Microsoft Word file to know more about the Coronavirus outbreak.

When the user opens the document, it activates a series of commands that download Emotet malware into the receiver’s computer. After the malware is installed in the user’s computer, it allows the hacker to steal any sort of sensitive and confidential information or he can also use the opportunity to launch a ransomware attack.

Hackers using coronavirus to scare people

Kaspersky’s threat researchers have witnessed few more attempts of spreading Emotet in the name of Coronavirus to lure people to open the files and share them too. Hackers are attaching .mp4, .pdf, and .docx files in the emails that seem to have relevant information about the coronavirus.

As of now, 10 unique files have been found by Anton Ivanov, a malware analyst at Kaspersky. He has stated that these activities will trigger more hackers and the number of attacks will increase in the upcoming days.

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus outbreak as a situation of global health emergency and all the health officials are trying to provide valid and relevant information about the virus, hackers are using this outbreak as an opportunity to launch attacks on people by taking the advantage of their fear over coronavirus. This online dashboard can help the people to get information about the number of people affected, recovered and killed by the coronavirus in real-time.