THE global economy has come to a virtual standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, this has not deterred cyber-criminals and fake news peddlers from trying to take advantage of peoples' vulnerabilities to launch malicious cyberattacks or create fear and unrest by disseminating alarming and false information.

In Singapore, the government last week warned of phishing calls purportedly from the Ministry of Health. There has also been false news circulating on social media that Singapore citizens can get a S$2,000 payment due to the spread of Covid-19, along with a link on how to make the claim. The link is probably malicious in nature. These are not just localised incidents. According to cyber-security company Check Point, cyber-criminals are exploiting interest and worry about the pandemic with several spam campaigns relating to the outbreak. Since January, there have been 4,000 coronavirus-related domains registered globally. Check Point reckons that of these websites, 3 per cent were malicious and another 5 per cent appear suspicious. According to security experts, coronavirus-related domains are 50 per cent more likely to be malicious than other domains registered during the period. Many of these domains would be used for phishing attempts.

While Singapore, fortunately, has yet to witness a large-scale coronavirus-related phishing attack, there have already been widespread assaults in other countries. In Italy, one targetted campaign hit over 10 per cent of organisations in the country. In Japan, malicious e-mails with "information" about the infection in a harmful attachment have been widely distributed. In Indonesia, a scam e-mail, allegedly with information about how people can best protect themselves from the virus, is doing the rounds.