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16 April 2020 (Brussels, BE) – Fear of the coronavirus and misinformation about the pandemic have created a pool of targets for online scammers.
The big picture: Misinformation around COVID-19 is rampant online, from phony cures to outlandish claims that 5G wireless signals cause the illness. Cybersecurity analysts are also seeing an explosion in phishing and other digital cons that base their scams on these popular coronavirus myths.
What’s happening: Researchers at cybersecurity auditor NormShield found a massive uptick in the first three months of 2020 for new domains that make reference to chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.
• Those are malaria drugs that Trump and others have suggested could be an effective treatment for COVID-19, but they have not been proven effective for that use and can have dangerous side effects.
• The sharpest increase in the new domains came after Trump first mentioned the drug in a March 19 White House briefing.
• Many of them hosted phishing websites that purported to be online pharmacies where people could buy the drug, but were actually operations to lift visitors’ credit card numbers and other billing and personal information.
• “Bad actors prey on people’s fears, and they prey on people’s greed, and in this particular case, they’re preying on people’s fears,” said NormShield chief security officer Bob Maley.
That same dynamic is playing out across a wide range of coronavirus misinformation, said Ryan Kalember, who leads cybersecurity strategy for Proofpoint.
• He said misinformation that Proofpoint has seen powering scams includes conspiracy theories that either China or the U.S. military developed coronavirus as a bioweapon; overstated claims about hydroxychloroquine and other drugs; and claims that the government has developed a cure or vaccine but is withholding it from the public.
Between the lines: Misinformation about the pandemic and scams related to it are each independently seeing rapid and massive growth.
• Yonder, an artificial intelligence startup that monitors mis- and disinformation, recently found that it now takes 3 to 14 days for misinformation involving the coronavirus to spread from fringe platforms like 4chan forums to coverage in mainstream press outlets. It typically takes 6 to 8 months for that to happen with other topics, according to Yonder. [ NOTE: Yonder just laid off 18 employees, bringing its workforce to about 40 people.]
• At the same time, coronavirus scams across the board are exploding, aimed at both individual consumers and institutions like large corporations and health networks. They include phishing emails — often from lookalike domains aping companies, government agencies and public health organizations asking users to give up login or financial information or click on a malware link — as well as phony websites like the fake hydroxychloroquine pharmacies.
• According to David Grout of of the cyber security firm FireEye, these cons appear to be conducted by the same actors long responsible for the bulk of online scams around the world, primarily, practiced operations out of West Africa and Eastern Europe: “There’s no new tradecraft. They’re just seeing that coronavirus lures are increasing their click rate like nothing they’ve ever seen before.”
The bottom line: Classic online scams like “Nigerian prince” emails are often rife with misspellings and obvious errors that serve as a kind of natural filter. Cons are more likely to work on people who are gullible enough to ignore such signals and reply to a scam email or blindly click on a phishing link in the first place. Similarly, people who are already falling for coronavirus misinformation make readymade targets for scammers.
Believe it or not, ethical criminals do exist. At least to a point. The Independent describes the line Monopoly Market will not cross in it’s article, “Coronavirus: Dark Web Market Bans Drug Dealers Selling Fake Covid-19 Vaccines.” The market also blocked sales of purported cures and related scarce supplies. Reporter Anthony Cuthbertson writes:
“The site is a relatively new market on the dark web, counting just over 100 active vendors who sell and ship illegal drugs to buyers in exchange for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and monero. The warning to sellers comes amid a recent influx of coronavirus-related drugs and treatments advertised by scammers and criminals across dark web marketplaces. ‘Any vendor caught flogging goods as a “cure” to coronavirus will not only be permanently removed from this market but should be avoided like the Spanish flu,’ a Monopoly Market administrator wrote in a forum post. The site also forbids users from selling items that have been impacted by shortages, such as protective face masks and toilet roll. ‘You do not, under any circumstances use Covid-19 as a marketing tool,’ the post stated. ‘No magical cures, no silly f***ing mask selling, toilet paper selling. None of that b*******. We have class here.”
Other dark web vendors are still peddling fake and vaccines and cures, to be sure. However, dark web forum discussions show even career cyber criminals feel that the gravity of this pandemic warrants restraint. Furthermore, sites that market illegal drugs are urging their vendors to use glasses, masks, and gloves while preparing their wares. Coming from a crowd that usually does not balk at stoking fears to make a profit, this attitude illustrates how severe the current situation is.
The roots behind criminality: cyber and regular
Coronavirus scams, global Internet traffic hijacking, and attacks on work-from-homers. Where does crime originate? Like most of my readers, I am plowing through about two books a week and countless hard copy magazines. Plus a tsunami of on-line articles. We’re in the middle of an infodemic.
In the United States, true crime documentaries and fictional detective shows are popular. People love these shows because it explores the human psyche and tries to answer why people commit crimes. Mental health professionals have explored criminals motivations for centuries, including University of California Santa Cruz professor of psychology Craig Haney. One of my “go to” science web sites, Phys.org, shares more on Haney’s work in the article, “New Book Debunks Myths About Who Causes Crime And Why.”
For over forty years, Haney researched the real causes behind crimes and he formulated the hypothesis that criminal behavior could be tied to childhood suffering, such as abuse, trauma, and maltreatment. Haney had interviewed many death row inmates and noticed trauma patterns in them. His colleagues were skeptical about his findings, because there was not much research not the idea and few studies. Haney wrote about his findings in a new book, Criminality in Context: The Psychological Foundations of Criminal Justice Reform. In his new book, Haney discusses forty years of research and what believes to be the root causes of criminal behavior, how it differs from accepted conventions, and what reforms are needed in the criminal justice system. Haney stated:
“The nation’s dominant narrative about crime is that it is committed by bad people who freely choose to make bad decisions, persons who are fundamentally different from the rest of us. The only thing that is fundamentally different about them is the lives they’ve lived and the structural impediments they’ve faced.”
Haney found that the people most at risk to commit crimes were those exposed to childhood trauma and often experienced even more maltreatment in places meant to protect them: school, foster care systems, and juvenile justice systems.
He also argues that poverty and racism are key contributors to criminal behaviors. Poverty is a gateway to criminal behavior, because it leads to trauma, unmet needs, and less opportunities. Unfortunately ethnic minorities who experience poverty and trauma are more likely to end up imprisoned. By proxy ethnic minorities receive differential treatment and represent the largest criminal populations. Haney’s research exposes bigger holes in the already broken criminal justice system. He points that bigger reforms need to be made than simple criminal justice. Crime prevention strategies need to start at the cradle, most importantly combating social inequality and and poverty.
While Haney’s research may sound new, it only augments what other mental health professionals have been spouting for years. Everything is connected when it comes to mental health, but humans usually are not taught how to properly care for their minds.
It reminded me of the BAE Systems research paper back in 2016 on the industrialization of cyber crime, which looked increasingly like other established and legal industries. The researchers looked at the personal traits and characteristics of cyber criminals and found they are shaped by life experiences and events that lead to machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sensation seeking maturity, aggressiveness, social-skill problems, superficiality, (lack of) self-esteem and personal integrity.
Yes, the motivating factors for cybercriminals reach from hacktivism, monetary gain, espionage/ sabotage, and political/ religious belief, to curiosity/boredom, emotion/ sexual impulses, intolerance, thrill-seeking, enhancing self-worth, and the intent to control/manipulate others. But it was interesting, looking at known behavioural patterns and demographic characteristics shared by criminals, to see the commonality of personal traits and characteristics.