[Heads Up] North Korean State Hackers Plan a June 21 COVID-19 Phishing Attack That Targets 5 Million in Six Nations

Stu Sjouwerman | Jun 19, 2020

angler_phishing-1ZDNet reported: "Singapore, Japan, and the US are amongst six nations targeted in a COVID-19 themed phishing campaign that is reportedly scheduled for June 21, during which 8,000 businesses in Singapore may receive email messages from a spoofed Ministry of Manpower account.

Singapore, Japan, and the US are amongst six nations reportedly targeted in a COVID-19 themed phishing campaign that is scheduled to take place June 21. North Korean state hacker group Lazarus are said to be behind the massive attack that will see more than 5 million businesses and individuals receiving phishing email messages from spoofed government accounts. 

This would include 8,000 organisations in Singapore where the business contacts highlighted in an email template were addressed to members of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), according to a report from cybersecurity vendor Cyfirma. Introduced in 2001 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, SBF is responsible for promoting Singapore businesses and currently represents 27,200 companies."

SingCERT confirmed it received "information regarding a potential phishing campaign" and, in response, posted an advisory on its website Friday. It said there were "always" ongoing phishing attempts by various cyber criminals that used different themes and baits and spoofed different entities. This tactic remained a common and effective technique used to gain access to individuals' accounts, deliver malware, or trick victims into revealing confidential data, said SingCERT, which sits under Cyber Security Agency (CSA).

Topics: Phishing

Discover Your Organization’s Phish-prone™ Percentage

Ninety-one percent of data breaches begin with spear phishing. Launch our Free Phishing Security Test for up to 100 users to uncover your team's vulnerability and see how your security posture stacks up against industry benchmarks.

Get Your Free Phishing Security Test

Secure the Digital Workforce: Human + AI

KnowBe4 empowers the human and AI workforce to make safer security decisions every day. Trusted by over 70,000 organizations worldwide, we help strengthen security culture and manage risk. Our comprehensive AI-driven platform includes awareness and compliance training, cloud email security, real-time coaching, crowdsourced anti-phishing, AI Defense Agents, agent security and more. As the only global security platform of its kind, KnowBe4 provides personalized content, tools, and techniques to keep the modern workforce safe from phishing, vishing, deepfakes, and emerging threats.

Get the latest insights, trends and security news. Subscribe to CyberheistNews.