The world is currently suffering from the chaos, due to the spread of a deadly virus called coronavirus. This has led the entire world to a stage of complete lockdown and is making people stay in self-isolation. But this is not the only virus that is creating problems for mankind.
Cybercriminals are misusing the population’s habit of using mobile apps to know more about the disease spread by the coronavirus. Mobile app developers are trying to get hold of the users that are looking for such applications in order to capitalize on the growing number of the users and boost their knowledge about the coronavirus.
Amid the coronavirus scare, the idea of the capitalization might seem ridiculous, but the cyber-criminals are using it to trick the users. The victims are being tricked into downloading the applications that have been infected by the nasty virus or malicious attachments. The fraudulent websites and apps started rolling out way before the Covid-19 was announced pandemic.
The cyber-criminals are using the epidemic as an opportunity to hack the data/ information. But now because of the global scare, they are able to target almost everyone that is interested in discovering the latest information about the spread.
A report revealed a gargantuan spike in the app scans which contain Covid or corona in the file path or name. There were over 2,100 scans during the initial weeks of March.
In the U.S such an apps scan went up to 500 and in Asia, it went up to 1000 in March. They contained the keyword corona and Covid to buff the users. The cyber-criminals and developers are trying to make the most of the information that is in demand with an aim to boost App downloads.
This trend was spotted on assumptions that the malicious entities would definitely capitalize on this hot topic. According to a research group, there where a lot of coronaviruses themed applications and malware present in the market. A lot of those applications have been updated with the main motive of search engine optimization. Many developing teams have changed the name of the existing applications to add the keywords coronavirus or Covid-19. Most of the teams have changed the screenshots of the app in order to improve their ranking on the search engine, just to gain a few extra downloads. The teams are clearly ignoring the fact that this might bring them bad reviews.
Where some just want their ranking to improve on the search engine, a few are just spyware. Such websites and apps pretend about their authenticity and boost the customers to install the application in order to get the latest updates. Once the users download such applications from bogus websites their system crashes. A lot of these bogus apps are not malicious, but they just display a number of ads and popups. This might not hack a user’s data can surely play a part in draining the battery.
In times like these, the last thing our authorities need is cyber-criminals creating a nuisance. Strict action must be taken against them, and that too very soon. Let us see how the things unfold, but till then stay tuned to Techugo for more information.
Don’t forget to drop in your important and precious inputs about the coronavirus scare. Also, stay safe!
