With COVID-19 getting more and more intense, people are trying their best to keep tabs at the places Coronavirus is spreading to ensure their safety.?
Various institutions have made people across the globe aware that they can keep a track of the number of coronavirus cases with the help of online dashboards -- HereMaps has made one, John Hopkins University has made one -- giving us information in real-time.?
However, this is being used by hackers to infect our computers with malware. According to Shai Alfasi -- a security researcher at Reason labs, hackers are using these maps to steal personal user information like usernames and passwords, credit card numbers etc that are saved in their browser.
Attackers are smartly designing websites related to coronavirus and when a visitor comes across the site, itĄŻll ask the user to download an app thatĄŻll keep you up to date with the situation of Coronavirus in a particular location. With the level of panic that has surrounded the world, many agree to do so.?
Upon clicking, the app doesnĄŻt need to install itself on the PC. itĄŻll just show a map of places affected by COVID-19. However, while the user is busy looking at the affected areas, in the background, hackers generate a malicious binary file that gets installed on our computer.
This binary file once on a computer will keep on stealing data from your computer until you format the system entirely and install a fresh copy of Windows.
According to Alfasi, this method is fabricated with a software called AZORult. He said, Ą°It is used to steal browsing history, cookies, ID/passwords, cryptocurrency and more. It can also download additional malware onto infected machines. AZORult is commonly sold on Russian underground forums for the purpose of collecting sensitive data from an infected computer.Ąą
So next time you want to keep tabs on Coronavirus cases in your country, we strongly recommend you either rely on John Hopkins UniversityĄŻs tracker or Here MapsĄŻs COVID-19 tracker to stay safe online.