Hacker ‘ceasefire’ gets little traction as pandemic fuels attacks

Internet users have seen a surge in COVID-related cyberattacks and fraud schemes which could add to the misery of the pandemic, even as some hackers have called for dialing back their criminal efforts.

A deluge of attacks has included phishing emails purported to be from health agencies, counterfeit product offers and bogus charity donation requests, according to security analysts.

Over the past month, at least 100,000 new web domain names were registered containing terms like covid, corona, and virus, many of which are considered “malicious,” according to a report prepared for the global internet registry agency ICANN.

“The pandemic has led to an explosion of cybercrime, preying upon a population desperate for safety and reassurance,” said the report released this week by Interisle Consulting Group.

The number of “spoofed” websites used for phishing to steal people’s private credentials rose by 350 percent since January to more than 500,000, according to Atlas VPN, which provides secure connection services.