Sophos flags coronavirus-based phishing attempts

Hackers posing as coronavirus charitable causes

Sophos has highlighted the risk posed by cybercriminals trying to cash in on the coronavirus outbreak, publishing an email imitating the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The email impersonates a doctor claiming to work for the WHO, asking for Bitcoin to be donated to help fight the disease.

"These emails are fake, but very real looking and take advantage of new and until recently unheard-of charitable organisations," Sophos security expert Chester Wisniewski said.

"The tell-tale clue is the request for Bitcoin, rather than credit cards or other currency.

"Due to the ability to trace and stop real wire transfers and credit cards, criminals prefer to rely on cryptocurrencies to attempt to preserve their anonymity and freedom and the Bitcoin payment request seen here is a sign that something isn't right about this email.

"We haven't seen the novel nature of this attack before - impersonating charities around COVID-19."

Sophos said that hackers began by sending phishing emails containing "weaponised Word documents", disguised as coronavirus guidance information, but have now moved onto imitation.

Wisniewski added: "Any time the public's interest becomes fixated on a topic, scammers, spammers and malware authors latch on to the news and are determined to find a way to exploit the opportunity.

"We've seen this type of activity in the past, but rarely is the whole world so focused on one thing, making this chance to develop scams a little too good to be true for cybercriminals."