Cyber Threats Forecast. Coronavirus

News about the new and highly contagious virus that first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December of 2019 is everywhere.

As coronavirus spreads, working from home is the new reality for many employees around the world. With work from home set in action, there will be an increase in cyber threats around the earth.

1. There will be an increase in the number of fraudulent free services, like online training platforms, fraudulent free video conferencing platforms, fake food delivery apps, and online streaming services, etc.
2. With people working remotely, there will be a higher risk of espionage.
3. Industries ranging in the financial sector, including banks, investment companies, insurance companies, and real estate firms will face a high number of targeted attacks.
4. With the important findings in the research by BBC Pandemic, shows that people over 65 are particularly at risk from COVID-19 illness. With this, there will be a new high number of fraudulent activities targeting senior citizens. Activities will involve fraudulent offers of shopping services, counterfeit drugs against COVID-19, and fake coronavirus tests, etc.
5. With employee's wages lowered as they switched to remote working, there will be a higher risk of Insider threats.
6. The airline industry is in crisis mode, and with local government and World Health Organization giving travel advisories, travellers around the globe want to avoid flying amid coronavirus fears. It will lead to more fraudulent activities in the tourism industry, which involves money transfer centres of airlines, and hotels, etc.

With APTs' goal of stealing money and personal data, I can foretell an increase in the number of cyber attacks on computers, internet of things (IOTs), unprotected networks, including public and home used by employees who are working from home amid COVID-19. Employees working in the IT, financial, and telecom sectors are, particularly at risk.