McAfee yesterday released the COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020. This report, part of its quarterly cybersecurity assessments, examines the cybercriminal activity and evolution of cyber threats in Q1 2020. Researchers at McAfee report an average of 375 new threats per minute. Moreover, the COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020 records a surge of cybercriminals exploiting the pandemic through COVID-19 themed malicious apps, phishing campaigns, malware, and more.
McAfee serves as an endpoint security solution provider, with an emphasis on machine learning, behavioral analysis detection, and prevention. McAfee Labs and McAfee Advanced Threat Research are a leading source for threat research, threat intelligence, and cybersecurity thought leadership. Also, they provide real-time threat intelligence, critical analysis, and expert thinking.
In the COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020, McAfee observed a growing deluge of COVID-19 phishing campaigns and malicious URLs. Indeed, the theme of the report is escalation. For example, new PowerShell malware increased 689 percent, while total malware grew 1,902 percent over four quarters. Incidents targeting the public sector grew 73 percent, whereas those targeting educational organizations grew 33 percent. Finally, 47 percent of all publicly disclosed security incidents took place in the United States.
Raj Samani, McAfee fellow and chief scientist, released a statement with the COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020. “Thus far, the dominant themes of the 2020 threat landscape have been cybercriminal’s quick adaptation to exploit the pandemic and the considerable impact cyberattacks have had. What began as a trickle of phishing campaigns and the occasional malicious app quickly turned into a deluge of malicious URLs and capable threat actors leveraging the world’s thirst for more information on COVID-19 as an entry mechanism into systems across the globe.”
Learn more about McAfee here.
Ben Canner
Ben Canner is an enterprise technology writer and analyst covering Identity Management, SIEM, Endpoint Protection, and Cybersecurity writ large. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Clark University in Worcester, MA. He previously worked as a corporate blogger and ghost writer. You can reach him via Twitter and LinkedIn.
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