Coronavirus: Odisha Police issues advisory on cyber frauds

With instances of abuse of cyber space relating to COVID-19 coming to the notice of the authorities, the Odisha Police has issued an advisory asking citizens to be cautious against fraudsters spreading misinformation.

Besides spreading fake versions of health advisories, COVID-19 response documents in the name of trusted agencies like the government, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the scammers are employing various methods to exploit the fear among the people related to the deadly virus, the police said.

The threat groups are running spam campaigns of selling masks, sanitisers, coronavirus vaccines on online shopping portals, ADG, Crime Branch, Soumendra Priyadarshi said in the advisory.

Besides offering premium goods at an unbelievable price in the name of "Corona special offer", they are also sending emails and messages to persons threatening to infect them with the virus, he said.

The groups are also carrying out spear-phishing campaigns targeting government officials, the advisory said.

"Once the attackers succeed in tricking their targets to accept the bait, they can earn huge amount of money from the victims, create a state of panic or target the victims system for carrying out other cyber crimes such as espionage, spread ransomware, steal data," the advisory issued by the crime branch of the police said.

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The police urged people to use only trusted sources, such as legitimate government websites for up-to-date, fact-based information about COVID-19, and never respond to unsolicited requests for personal and financial information.

It also suggested people to download mobile apps only from the official App Store, and verify the authenticity of charity campaigns related to COVID-19 prior to making any contributions.

"Exercise extreme precaution before opening any e-mail attachment or clicking any link received from unknown senders, especially pertaining to information about coronavirus," it said.

Organisations should ensure that secure remote access technologies are in place and configured correctly, including the use of multi-factor authentication, so that all employees can conduct their work securely from home.

Individuals should avoid using personal device for work and ensure that it has the same level of security as a company-owned device, it said.

"Take care of data privacy and security of any sensitive information while working from home," the advisory said.

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