‘Fearware’ in the times of Covid-19 pandemic

New Delhi: Fraudsters have stepped up cyberattacks taking advantage of the fear over the coronavirus, and there is a new term in the officialdom to describe the malware: Fearware.

There are more than 3,000 new web sites related to Covid-19 with several hundred of them being fake, either with dangerous content or incorrect information, officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

“The cyber attackers are exploiting the fear of the coronavirus to cause the victim to fall prey to cyberattacks,” said an official.