COVID-19 Other publications

Unprecedented global events bring out both the best and the worst of humankind, and the current COVID-19 pandemic is no different. PwC's Threat Intelligence research has identified unwavering cybercrime activity in the form of espionage, phishing, and other scams, performed by various threat actors whose intent is that of capitalising on the current fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Most prominently, cyber criminals have been using COVID-19 based phishing lures and sophisticated campaigns as part of their efforts to infect victims with malware that steals sensitive data or allows unauthorised access into a network. In the past week alone, we saw:

• Threat actors making use of a slightly non-standard file type, such as a Windows shortcut link (LNK). These files can be made to look like PDF documents, enticing the user to click on them to have malicious code executed.
• A variety of crimeware families, including NanoCore, njRAT, Formbook, AgentTesla, and HawkEye were observed 
• A COVID-19 themed phishing campaign masquerading as termination letters/emails that phished for credentials.
• Attacks related to fake payments, with the majority of these attempting to lure the victim into downloading and opening malicious attachments.

Mitigating Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks have surged dramatically by 600% since February and therefore organisations must take the necessary measures to mitigate the risks of such threat from a technical and behavioural perspective:

• Cyber aware employees - the first line of defense against cyber attacks. Too often, that defense needs strengthening. As has been proven time and time again, it only takes one click, one missing endpoint agent, one failed alert, one unsuspecting employee, and the adversary has free reign inside your network.
• Adequate email filtering systems configured with optimal policies that keeps the bad stuff out, while letting the good stuff in Regular vulnerability assessments and health checks to ensure that your organisation is cyber resilient against malware propagation originating from phishing emails.
• Regular vulnerability assessments and health checks to ensure that your organisation is cyber resilient against malware propagation originating from phishing emails

We have recognised that the best vaccine against phishing is educating your employees. By launching a simulated Phishing Campaign within your organisation, you will be in a position to assess the risks and avoid becoming the next phishing victim.

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COVID-19: Managing your cash pressures

As the COVID-19 response evolves, organisations are experiencing significant operational, financial and liquidity challenges. In order to ensure these challenges can be addressed, the number one concern aired by our clients has been how they can manage their cash pressures to ride out the crisis.

COVID-19 impacted businesses may have unclear cash positions and cash forecasts, resulting in an inability to identify any net funding shortfalls.

Read more about your quick guide on the three key steps which should be considered by Management Teams as they seek to stabilise their cash position through this period.

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