Huge rise in phishing domains since COVID vaccines began

Hook on Keyboard
(Image credit: wk1003mike / Shutterstock)

Cyberattackers are continuing to leverage the COVID-19 pandemic in their exploits, with new research indicating that the number of phishing campaigns centered on the vaccine roll-out has risen significantly of late.

The Real-Time Anti-Phishing protection system developed by cybersecurity firm Webroot has found an increase in the number of malicious URLs using subjects like vaccines, COVID cures, and travel. 

These terms, which are particularly important to people in the current climate, are being utilized in order to encourage unsuspecting victims to click on suspicious links and open illegitimate emails.

Phishing on the rise

According to Webroot’s analysis, the use of the word “vaccine” in suspicious domain names increased by 94.8% between December 8 last year and January 6, 2021, when compared to the previous 30 days. In addition, this period also showed an increase of 336% when compared with March 2020.

In total, Webroot found more than 4,500 new suspicious domains that contained a reference to “COVID-19,” “Corona,” “vaccine,” “cure COVID,” and other related terms. Of these, 934 domains included the word “vaccine,” while a further 611 contained a misspelling of “vaccine.”

“As 2021 brings the first mass vaccination programs to fight COVID-19, we’re already seeing cybercriminals exploiting the publicity and anticipation surrounding these to target businesses and consumers in phishing and domain spoofing attacks,” Nick Emanuel, Senior Director of Product at Webroot, said. “Scams using keywords based on emotive subjects concerning medical safety and the pandemic are always going to be more effective, especially when they’re in the public interest.”

Webroot’s findings should come as no surprise, as it has long been observed that cyberattackers are attempting to use the pandemic to their advantage. Google recorded a record number of phishing attempts in 2020, while earlier this week the FBI issued a warning to businesses over a rise in vishing attacks.

Barclay Ballard

Barclay has been writing about technology for a decade, starting out as a freelancer with ITProPortal covering everything from London’s start-up scene to comparisons of the best cloud storage services.  After that, he spent some time as the managing editor of an online outlet focusing on cloud computing, furthering his interest in virtualization, Big Data, and the Internet of Things. 

Latest in Security
Image depicting hands typing on a keyboard, with phishing hooks holding files, passwords and credit cards.
Microsoft warns about a new phishing campaign impersonating Booking.com
Data leak
Hacked Tata Technologies data leaked by ransomware gang
A close-up photo of an iPhone, with the App Store icon prominent in the center of the image.
Thousands of iOS apps found to expose user data and leak Stripe keys
China
Chinese hackers targeting Juniper Networks routers, so patch now
Google Chrome dark mode
Google updates Chrome extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit
Abstract image of robots working in an office environment including creating blueprint of robot arm, making a phone call, and typing on a keyboard
This worrying botnet targets unsecure TP-Link routers - thousands of devices already hacked
Latest in News
UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer
UK PM says AI should soon replace civil servants
Xbox Copilot in Minecraft
Microsoft confirms Copilot can be tested by Xbox Insiders next month and shares new details about how the AI sidekick will enhance the player experience: 'It has to be about gameplay, it has to be personalized to you'
Eight Samsung TVs mounted to the wall showing different basketball games
Samsung is offering you 8 new TVs in one bundle for March Madness, in case you want to watch all games at once like a Bond villain’s lair
Image depicting hands typing on a keyboard, with phishing hooks holding files, passwords and credit cards.
Microsoft warns about a new phishing campaign impersonating Booking.com
The Steam Logo on a mobile phone in front of a wall of games.
Today’s Steam Spring Sale features my absolute favorite game of all time - here's when the sale starts and all the key info
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max REVIEW
The latest iPhone 17 Pro Max leak may have given us another look at its upcoming redesign