As the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) continues to spread globally, infecting thousands and killing more than 300 people, a digital version of it is posing threats online.
Some cyber criminals are taking advantage of the threat of the novel coronavirus to spread malware, according to the cybersecurity provider Kaspersky.
Researchers at Kaspersky said it has detected malicious files disguised as documents related to the newly discovered coronavirus in PDFs, MP4 and Microsoft Word documents.
These files imply that they contain tips on how to protect yourself from the virus, updates on the outbreak and even ways to detect the disease, which is not actually the case, Kaspersky said in a statement.
Kaspersky warned that these seemingly helpful files contain a number of threats, ranging from Trojans to worms, capable of destroying, blocking, modifying or copying data, in addition to interfering with the operation of computers or computer networks.
“So far, we’ve only seen 10 unique malware using the coronavirus theme. As scams using popular themes in the media are common, we believe that these attacks only tend to increase as infections and repercussions on the outbreak grow,” Anton Ivanov, malware analyst at Kaspersky, said in the release.
The cyber security provider listed “coronavirus” malware with the following names:
Worm. VBS. Dinihou. r
Worm. Python. Agent. c
UDS: DangerousObject. Multi. Generic
Trojan. WinLNK. Agent. gg
Trojan. WinLNK. Agent. ew
HEUR: Trojan. WinLNK. Agent. gen
HEUR: Trojan. PDF. Badur. b
Kaspersky advised to avoid these links and follow official sources of verified information instead.
It also warned people to check the extension of the downloaded file, reminding them that video documents and files must not be in .exe or .lnk formats.
