Criminals take advantage of the COVID-19 by scam emails

Charlotte Eykerman & Nanor Pontigian Opinion Editor and Science & Tech Editor, The Pawprint

Criminals have recently begun using the Coronavirus to their advantage and have compromised council computer systems in the UK. 

These online criminals are attacking remote workforces, tech vendors and corporate systems. The cyberthreats that companies are receiving consist of phishing scams and spam.

According to the Middlesbrough Council, many local authorities have received several fake emails. Their department workers have been asked to immediately report any emails that seem suspicious to the authorities. One wrong click and the criminals have all your information and data.

Organisations have started to warn their staff to be more careful. They say, “criminal organisations are taking the opportunity to exploit the outbreak of the coronavirus. If you receive any emails from Rotherham Council with subjects such as ‘Payroll Adjustment’ and ‘COVID-19’ can you inform ICT immediately, do not attempt to open it or click on any links contained within.”

Currently, this cyber issue staff is not being considered a huge problem. As Luke Sayers, the assistant director for customer, information and digital said “A member of staff unintentionally clicked on an internet link in a spam email which resulted in some automatic emails being generated. No data or information was compromised, and this issue was quickly resolved.”