Hack-for-hire firms targeting financial services, healthcare amid COVID-19 pandemic: Google

Hack-for-hire firms, many of them based in India, are creating accounts spoofing the World Health Organization (WHO) and targeting business leaders in financial services, consulting, and healthcare corporations in the US, the UK and Bahrain among other countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by Google.

The tech giant noted that numerous coronavirus-themed attacks have been discovered and confirmed by its teams as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted people’s lives and businesses across the world.

Citing an example of one such form of attack, Google said, “We have seen new activity from ‘hack-for-hire’ firms, many based in India, that have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the WHO”.