#WeekendWisdom 026 Fake domain names and COVID19 tracking apps
Welcome to #WeekendWisdom number 26. This week we want to talk about fake domain names and COVID19 tracking apps.
As I advised back in #WeekendWisdom number 23, the UK and US cyber security authorities have issued a warning about a huge increase in the number of domain names using COVID19 in their title. These will be used by malicious websites to try and get people to register their details or try to fool them in some other way.
What kind of fake domain names
Here you can see an example from a text message which would seem to indicate that you were in contact or close contact with somebody who has now been diagnosed with COVID19 or has the symptoms of COVID19. And they are trying to leverage the uncertainty about the contact tracing that is going on at present. So they want you to click on that link which would not be very good.
What about those COVID19 Tracking Apps
Similarly various countries are beginning to roll out COVID19 tracking apps. And there is going to be again, uncertainty around how these are going to work.
For example just this week, Australia rolled out the COVIDSafe app. And within hours of this app going live, there were text messages going around to Australian mobile numbers seeming to indicate it was coming from the app and that people had been detected outside of the range from their homes and they need to call the number.
So it’s all fake and that’s what these guys are going to try and leverage.
When an app goes live in your country, expect to start seeing some scam text messages about that or other the messages about that.
So don’t fall for the fake domain names and scams about COVID19 tracking apps.
So that’s it for this week. Let’s be careful out there and we’ll talk to you again next week.
#SecuritySimplified