Google reports foreign government-backed cyberattacks related to COVID-19

On April 22, Google's ThreatAnalysis Group reported more than a dozen government-backed attackers are using COVID-19-themed emails for phishing and malware attempts.

The company previously reported an uptick in malware and phishing emails in Gmail messenger, reaching 18 million per day related to COVID-19 as well as 240 million spam messages related to the pandemic each day. The company is able to block around 99.9 percent of the attacks from reaching users. However, now the attackers have changed their tactics to include disguising phishing emails as coupons to get people to download them. Other attacks impersonate healthcare organizations to get people to download malware.

Google also said that attackers are using COVID-19 to target international health organizations, and has added extra security protections for high-risk accounts.

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