Washington, D.C. – Hackers are using the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa into a safety concern by creating and spreading a computer virus.
Said hackers are taking advantage of the current fear many individuals are having that the Ebola epidemic is causing. Using it as bait, as many are researching on urgent care options in protecting themselves from the said virus, these cyber-criminals are disguising Trojan viruses to appear as attached documents through e-mails that are headlined “EBOLA Outbreak – FEMA Storing 250,000 Plastic Coffins.” And “Ebola Outbreak Now WORSE Than We’re Being Told”
Last week, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned about these recent campaigns and recommended all Internet users to avoid clicking on downloading such attachments from said spam emails.
The said emails are being masqueraded to be memos regarding the current Ebola outbreak that is coming from the Mexican government or the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO’s communications officer Donna Eberwine-Villagran stated that the organization has not released any emails regarding this matter. She added that WHO do send messages along with attachments, but never this kind which is unsolicited or addressed to the public.
The increasing numbers of individuals who are already in a panic mode and in search of urgent care near me because of the said outbreak are most likely to get victimized by the said computer viruses. Aside from visiting an urgent care clinic, most individuals turn to the internet to find facts and preventive means.
A Chicago based cyber-security company Trustwave, stated that if the current Ebola outbreak titled file is downloaded, the virus will be able to take photos from any computer’s webcam, steal passwords, record sounds, and even upload files.
Urgent care clinics in the country are reporting an increase in concerns of the public with regard to the said outbreak. In relation to this, Trustwave’s Threat Intelligence Manager Karl Sigler stated that even a slight activity decrease was recorded around October 18 to 19, the recent campaign picked back up over the previous two days.
The recent malware campaign that is using the Ebola virus is only one of the many instances wherein cyber criminals try to capitalize on recent and highly publicized issues to gain more profit. Hackers also spread malware earlier this year on Facebook and used a fake story regarding the Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines rescue. The public is being warned that aside from the current Ebola outbreak malware campaigns, extreme caution should be observed when opening and downloading any file over the internet.
