One of four initial managers of the effort, Marc Rogers, said the
top priority would be working to combat hacks against medical facilities and
other frontline responders to the pandemic.
An international
group of nearly 400 volunteers with expertise in cybersecurity
formed on Wednesday to fight hacking related to the novel coronavirus.
Called the
Covid-19 CTI League, for cyber threat intelligence, the group spans more than
40 countries and includes professionals in senior positions at such major
companies as Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc .
One of four initial managers of the effort, Marc Rogers, said the top priority would be working to combat hacks against medical facilities and other frontline responders to the pandemic. It is already working on hacks of health organizations. Also key is the defense of communication networks and services that have become essential as more people work from home, said Rogers, head of security at the long-running hacking conference Def Con and a vice president at security company Okta Inc.
The group is also
using its web of contacts in internet infrastructure providers to squash
garden-variety phishing attacks and another financial crime that is using the
fear of Covid-19
or the desire for information on it to trick regular internet users. "I've
never seen this volume of phishing," Rogers said. "I am literally
seeing phishing messages in every language known to man."
Phishing messages
try to induce recipients to enter passwords or other sensitive information on
websites controlled by the attackers, who then use the data to take control of
bank, email or other accounts.
Rogers said the
group had already dismantled one campaign that used a software vulnerability to
spread malicious software. He declined to provide details, and said that in general
the group would be reluctant to reveal what it was fighting. Rogers said law
enforcement had been surprisingly welcoming of the collaboration, recognizing
the vastness of the threat.
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