Cyber Criminals Exploit COVID-19 in Attacks

Increasing attacks spur need to adopt cybersecurity best practices to keep pace with evolving threats


Over the last year, the healthcare industry has become a target of strategic interest amongst cyber criminals, and there is no reason to believe that is going to change. IT managers widely believe that in 2021, the healthcare industry will continue to be the most targeted industry by cyber criminals.

Because of its troves of valuable data, healthcare has never been as vulnerable to cyber attacks as it is now, according to Security Boulevard. Healthcare institutions reported 616 data breaches of 500 or more records in 2020, reports HIPAA Journal. Moreover, the report revealed that 28,756,445 healthcare records were exposed.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, hackers rapidly evolved their tactics to exploit the fears escalating among the population. This has spurred the need to adopt cybersecurity best practices for keeping pace with evolving threats, especially in healthcare. Cybercriminals have reframed their phishing attempts to launch targeted attacks by taking advantage of the COVID-19 fears. 

Those working on the response have become prime targets. Even the World Health Organization and research firms developing treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus are being targeted. 

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January 27, 2021


Topic Area: Information Technology


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