The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a notice against people from cities against large-scale phishing campaigns. These hackers aim to steal both personal and financial information. In this current pandemic situation, the entire system of offices and workplaces has been forced to undergo a massive change from working at offices to working remotely. It has led to a large amount of data moving online and a treat for hackers to attack these systems. Recently many companies have been facing issues and were under ransomware attacks. In Australia, there was a massive burst of cyber-attacks cases; hackers were seeking information in the guise of Covid-19 free testing services. CERT-In issued the notice stating that cybercriminals will use COVID-19 as bait while impersonating government authorities. They said,” It has been reported that malicious actors are planning a large-scale phishing attack campaign against Indian individuals and. The phishing campaign is expected to use malicious emails under the pretext of local authorities in charge of dispensing government-funded COVID-19 support initiatives.” Soon after their announcement State Bank of India issued a notice on their Twitter account warning its account holders to be aware and take precautions because of the imminent cyber-attacks in the future.
Indians largest bank cooperation tweeted,” Attention! It has come to our notice that a cyber-attack is going to take place in major cities in India. Kindly refrain yourself from clicking on emails coming from [email protected] with a subject line Free COVID-19 Testing.” SBI said that they had been receiving reports that soon phishing attack will be orchestrated by cybercriminals using the suspicious email id starting from 21st June. CERT-In informed the hackers that the hackers have a database of more than 20 Lakhs email ids from people in the cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Ahmedabad they will be the prime targets. They have asked the public to proceed with caution if they receive such emails. They have issued guidelines and steps to take if anything happens. It includes steps like not opening the mail itself, not opening emails with attachments from unknown senders, using safe browsing tools, and not submitting information on an unfamiliar website. It added that these emails were designed to drive people to enter sites where they are deceived into downloading malicious files or entering personal and financial information. They have urged people to use anti-virus tools, firewalls to protect themselves from harm.
