According to Kaspersky, during the first months of the year there was a significant increase in malware and phishing attacks in Portugal. Due to the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many companies and workers to rely on online for telecommuting and students who are taking classes at home, there has been a 37.5% increase in malware attacks. And only during the months of February and March, an increase of 4.7% over the same period last year.
Between January and April, the cybersecurity expert blocked more than one and a half million phishing attacks, an increase of 25% over the 2019 period.
Of the registered malware attacks, these were targeted at Windows, Android, Mac, Linux and other operating systems. Kaspersky saw a 22.6% increase in mobile malware attacks during February and March of the year, with the Android platform being the most popular for attacks.
Between January and April, Kaspersky's security software blocked more than 1.51 million attacks in Portugal, which means an increase of 25% over the same period of 2019 that had registered 1.22 million. March month was the most dangerous, with an average of 12,000 attacks per day.
According to Fabio Assolini, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Brasil, hackers adapt their attacks on a daily basis, becoming more sophisticated by sending very convincing messages to their victims, using the current context. It also warns that, despite the direct consequences for the victims, an incident can put the entire infrastructure of a company at risk, if the equipment is connected to the corporate network.
To avoid attacks, you should always be suspicious of links received both by email, SMS and even WhatsApp, especially when the address looks suspicious. If you suspect the address by clicking on it, you can always copy it to a notepad and check if it is genuine. Check the official website or social networks of the origin of the message for phishing alerts on behalf of the respective entities.
