India sees rises in hacking attempts by disguising as WHO, Google says

Google has noticed a rise in “hack-for-hire” firms based in India that create Gmail accounts to disguise as the World Health Organisation, targeting financial service leaders, healthcare corporations, and consulting services in other parts of the world to divulge their account information.

Even within India, Google has found that between 50 and 100 users in India were targeted by state-backing phishing attempts in April, a new report states. India’s hacking attempts also target countries such as the US, Slovenia, Canada, Bahrain, Cyprus, and the UK.

“The lures themselves encourage individuals to sign up for direct notifications from the WHO to stay informed of COVID-19 related announcements, and link to attacker-hosted websites that bear a strong resemblance to the official WHO website.