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While some Americans have received their first-round checks, others are still waiting for a few weeks or even months now. For Social Security recipients, there may be delays in receiving a check or misunderstanding of how the stimulus check interacts with their regular Social Security benefits. This confusion gives hackers an opportunity to target those who are waiting. With the possibility of a second stimulus check on the way, the scams around stimulus checks are likely to continue.

Other scams around the recent CARES Act have targeted people with small businesses. Hackers are impersonating lenders or banks and supposedly offering financial help in the form of quick loans or credit card debt.

3. Zoom meetings cyberattack

With people staying at home, many facets of our lives including work and social gatherings are now happening over video conferencing or meetings. While services like FaceTime, Whatsapp, and Skype remain popular, one of the most widely used video platforms during coronavirus is Zoom.

While these video conferencing tools helped improve communication for families, friends, and co-workers, they also become a target for hackers. In April, it was reported that over half a million Zoom accounts were compromised and became available on the darknet.

4. Hacking off International Institutions dealing with healthcare

A study conducted by the SITE Intelligence Group found that over 25,000 accounts from the National Institution of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Bank, and the WHO (World Health Organization) have been compromised. These emails and passwords were confirmed to be accurate.

If you have an account with any of these institutions, it is recommended to change your password immediately. If you use that same password for any other accounts (which you shouldn't do in general because of this very reason), it is also recommended to change those passwords as soon as possible.

How to protect yourself from scams

If you think you have been targeted or contacted by a fraudster do not respond. Do not even tell them you know it is a scam. Simply delete the message and please do not click on any of the links or attachments that might be included in the email.

Make sure to change your passwords frequently. A standard rule for good security is to change your passwords at least every 30-60 days. This will stop the risk of having your information stolen by malicious hackers.

Follow the basic protocols to protect yourself from becoming a victim of a cyberattack or identity theft.

• Do not open emails from unknown accounts
• Ensure multi-factor authentication (MFA) is activated on all personal accounts
• Do not put personal information on your phone
• Check the sender’s email domain name
• Look at the grammatical writing of emails received – if things seem off, they probably are scams
• Do not provide personal information in your emails or on calls (with the exception of if you started the phone conversation and with a trusted source)
• Consider installing antivirus software on your mobile phone and computer like Bitdefender or Norton

Additionally, companies and governments have released their own guidelines in terms of dealing with security during COVID-19. Microsoft’s COVID-19 Security Guidance advises customers to enable ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) on all their products.