Apr 3, 2020
COVID-19 vs. Cyber-attack
(Who is The Most Dangerous?)
Coronaviruses are a type of virus that causes disease in birds, mammals, and humans. There are so many different kinds; a newly identified type has caused a recent outbreak of respiratory illness now called COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019). [1] Some symptoms of COVID-19 are dry cough, flu, bad cold, sore throat, shortness of breath, etc. In the fatal case, COVID-19 can cause of death. On March 11st 2020, WHO (World Health Organization) has officially announced COVID-19 as a pandemic. There are currently 1.017.394 confirmed cases, 211.615 recovered,53.249 deaths of all around the world. Meanwhile, In Indonesia, there are currently 1.790 confirmed cases, 112 recovered, and 170 deaths. [2] You can protect yourself from the coronaviruses: First, knows how it spreads; mainly virus spread fast from person to person, e.g through respiratory droplets of an infected person when he sneezes, it can land in the mouth or nose of people who are nearby. In some cases, there are infected people who are not showing the symptoms. Second, take basics of protective e.g. wash your hand often; avoid rubbing eyes, nose, and mouth; clean and disinfect frequently touched daily on your home. The important thing is to avoid crowded, stay at home as much as possible. Third, if you are sick, wear a mask then do self-isolate and self-treatment immediately. [3]
On March 15th, 2020, President Joko Widodo has called on all Indonesian to work from home as a way to support “social distancing”. During this quarantine, many people use the internet to solve their tasks and use social media to waste their spare time. As a digital generation, we should know what is cyber-attack and how it works. Cyber-attack is any type of offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks, or personal computer devices. [4] A person who does cyber-attack is called an attacker. There are many kinds of cyber-attack such as malware, ransomware, phishing, man in the middle attack, DoS, etc.
One of the most common cyber-attack, malware (malicious software) is software that a hacker has created to disrupt or damage a legitimate user’s computer. Malware often spread via unsolicited email or legitimate download button. [5] In this pandemic, many people panic because of COVID-19, so attackers take advantage of the situation. How does it work? The attacker sends emails claiming to be from legitimate organizations with information related to coronavirus. The email messages might ask you to open an attachment to see the latest statistics. If you click on the attachment or embedded link, you are likely to download malicious software onto your device. The malware could allow the attacker to take control of your computer, log your keystrokes, or access your personal information and financial data, which could lead to identity theft. [6]
Attackers also activated a thousand sites related to COVID-19. Director of Operations Outcomes Recorded Future, Lindsay Kaye said the sites below included those that had potential dangerous; coronavirusstatus[.]space, coronavirus-map[.]com, blogcoronacl.canalcero[.]digital, coronavirus[.]zone, coronavirus-realtime[.]com, coronavirus[.]app, bgvfr.coronavirusaware[.]xyz, coronavirusaware[.]xyz.
Besides that, founder of VirusTotal, Bernardo Quintero the following sites also have dangerous potential because they have been detected by anti-virus software; corona-virus[.]healthcare, survivecoronavirus[.]org, vaccine-coronavirus[.]com, coronavirus[.]cc, bestcoronavirusprotect[.]tk, coronavirusupdate[.]tk [7]
Here are some tips for you to detect a phishing email; the message is sent from a public email (no legitimate organization will contact you from an address that ends ‘@gmail.com’), a domain name is misspelled, the email contains many grammatical mistakes, it often includes suspicious links that might contain malware. [8] Be aware, do not click a suspicious email if you do not want your data stolen by attackers.
At least but not least, you should be careful when you surfing on the internet. The following steps are against malware related to COVID-19 sites; make sure your smartphone is equipped with antivirus with the latest version, crosscheck the application permissions (e.g. this app wants to know device location, wants to access your camera, etc.) before you download it, avoid visit an unknown site and do not click on a suspicious link, do not be easily trust on a fake broadcast message that contains a reward or a gift with the condition you must click the link to claim it.
I hope this pandemic will end soon. What we can do are do not hang out, do not go outside for any reason, isolate yourself at home, wash your hands often, eat the well-done meat only, wear a mask if you sick. Do something positive on this quarantine day e.g. try to cook something, read motivational books, do exercise, playing your favorite games, write a poem, etc. Let us help the frontlines healthcare workers out there who are trying to cure COVID-19 patients. If you want to contribute to Indonesia just stay at home, work from home, pray from home and let God do the rest. Be patient, I’m sure we could pass this. Stay safe everyone.
So, according to you, who is the most dangerous? COVID-19 or cyber-attack? Please comment below!
References
[1] M. Lauren M. Sauer, “What Is Corona Virus?,” [Online]. Available: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[2] Worldometer, “COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC,” 3 4 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[3] CDC, “How To Protect Yourself & Others,” 2 4 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[4] Wikipedia, “Cyberattack,” 31 3 2020. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberattack. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[5] Kaspersky, “What is Cyber Security?,” [Online]. Available: https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-cyber-security. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[6] S. Symanovich, “Coronavirus phishing emails: How to protect against COVID-19 scams,” [Online]. Available: https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-online-scams-coronavirus-phishing-scams.html. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[7] V. M. Putri, “Awas! Jangan Sembarang Klik Situs dan Email Soal Virus Corona,” 16 3 2020. [Online]. Available: https://inet.detik.com/security/d-4941626/awas-jangan-sembarang-klik-situs-dan-email-soal-virus-corona. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
[8] L. Irwin, “5 ways to detect a phishing email — with examples,” 6 6 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/5-ways-to-detect-a-phishing-email. [Accessed 3 4 2020].
