Be Careful, There Is Malware Infiltrating The COVID-19 Distribution Map

JAKARTA - The world is worried about the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19. John Hopkins University has also succeeded in making an online map, in detail that shows the area of the corona virus spread around the world.

Unfortunately, the popularity of online maps is then used by hackers to create fake maps that have been planted with malicious programs such as malware. Later a kind of notification that forces the accesser to install illegal applications.

Reporting from TNW, security researcher from Reason Labs, Shai Alfasi, found that hackers used a map of the spread of the corona virus to steal information from those who accessed it. This malware downloads automatically when displaying a map of the distribution of the COVID-19 virus.

In appearance, this malware does display an online map regarding the spread of the coronavirus, the number of patients in each country and the victims it causes. At that time also AZORult type malware will pull a number of sensitive information owned by its users, be it passwords, credit card numbers and other information stored in the browser.

"This technique is very commonly used to steal browsing history, cookies, IDs or passwords, cryptocurrencies and many more. The goal is to collect sensitive data from infected computers," wrote Alfasi.

Furthermore, Alfasi's analysis via the Reason Security blog explains the actions of these hackers by circulating a website link named Corona-virus-Map.com or coronavirus-real-map.com and others.

To avoid this malware, users are advised to stick to the officially licensed COVID-19 map and check the URL using arcgis.com as the website domain. The original site can be accessed via THIS site.

As previously reported, cybersecurity company Kaspersky has also found malicious files related to the COVID-19 outbreak. The files, which are disguised as pdf, mp4 and docx formats, make video instructions on how to protect yourself from the Corona virus, the latest information about virus threats, even virus early detection procedures.

The malicious file is sent by hackers via email, and if opened, it will infect cellphones as well as computer devices. Even worse, this file can also be sent via instant messages such as WhatsApp and other instant messaging services.