The COVID-19 Hackers Mind-set: White Paper of the ECHO Network of cybersecurity centres: The first online hackathon organised by the ECHO network took place
on 6 April 2020, where experts from 15 members states discussed together
in two teams the COVID-19 hackers mind-set. The main conclusion was
that this pandemic offers cyber attackers unique opportunities to
leverage existing attack tactics, techniques and procedures to exploit
new opportunities created by a massive increase of employees working
from home, children using home computers for schooling, as well as the human factor and emotions caused by the pandemic. Regardless of the
motives behind a hack (profit or societal disruption), there are now
ample opportunities and methods to leverage the COVID-19 pandemic to
engage in criminal cyber activities.
The ECHO White Paper #1 gives an overview of a number of these: Basic COVID-19 specific cyber awareness messages for the general public, easy to understand and share, should be disseminated on a daily basis. Similarly, specific information for companies and sectors should be made available through early warning information sharing networks, in order to ensure that they also take appropriate measures to protect themselves and our economy against cyber crime.
