Telcos raise watch over systems amid govt warning of phishing attacks using COVID-19 as bait

NEW DELHI: Telecom companies have increased their vigilance of networks and systems following the government’s recent warning on large-scale phishing attacks in coming days against individuals and businesses, where attackers may use COVID-19 as bait. In a security advisory to its business-to-business customers, AirtelNSE -1.23 % said it is monitoring the situation on a real-time basis and has upgraded the security operations centre to a higher threat-level status for the next 5-7 days and promised to send daily dashboards to customers.

Airtel said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, most employees are continuing working from home, and this further increases their vulnerability, particularly to phishing attacks.