The Rise, Fall, and Possible Resurgence of COVID-19 Related Cyberattacks

Graph courtesy of Microsoft

In early February when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global health emergency, coronavirus-themed cyberattacks begin circulating around the world. As the global number of cases began to surge, so did the number of cyberattacks. By the first week of March, attacks reached nearly one million a day.

However according to Microsoft, the number of attacks faded nearly as quickly as they spiked. The very next week attacks had diminished by about 30%. As we moved into April, the pandemic-themed attacks dropped down to less than 100,000 a day.

There were a number of reasons that could have accounted for the drop in attacks, but Microsoft says one of them was the fact that security professionals put in maximum effort to update and improve their defenses. The company said that defenders “raised the cost and complexity barrier for cybercriminals targeting their employees.”

Once the drop in coronavirus-related attacks flattened out in the beginning of April, the number of those encounters remained fairly constant. However, the interesting aspect of this data showed that cyberattacks in general have not decreased.

According to Microsoft, they’re noticing approximately 12 million attacks every day alone – and that doesn’t include attacks being reported by other companies. That statistic is up roughly 20% over numbers reported from February 2019.

“Based on the overall trend of attacks it appears that the themed attacks were at the cost of other attacks in the threat environment,” Microsoft reported. Criminals who begin COVID-19 attacks were changing their plan, and were seizing the opportunity that was presented to them.

Months later and with no end to the pandemic in sight, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the likelihood that COVID-related cyberattacks could begin again as the number of infections are still climbing.

The best ways to defend against cyberattacks are to stay updated and educate yourself on how to avoid falling victim to an attack. Learn about how attackers are targeting their potential victims. Always make sure your apps and devices have been updated to their most current version and ensure that a reliable backup is on standby in a worst case scenario.

Story via Forbes