Coronavirus Panic Used By Cyber Criminals To Steal Bitcoin And Crypto

The crypto market is struggling to recover for the past few days, following the massive fall in price Bitcoin awe during the past week.

For a couple of days, Bitcoin has been lingering above $5,100 and at the moment of writing this article, BTC is trading in the green and the coin is priced at $5,175.73.

As you all know, the whole world has been hit by disaster and the WHO has declared a coronavirus pandemic.

Europe is in lockdown, and the UN is closing the borders.

DomainTools reveals unsettling news

According to DomainTools, it’s been revealed that the number of coronavirus-themed domain registrations has increased after the reports of the first cases and many of them are reportedly scams.

The online publication the Daily Hodl notes that there’s a particular platform called coronavirusapp[.]site, prompts users to install an Android app for real-time updates on the pandemic.

According to the online publication mentioned above, it seems that the app comes bundled with ransomware called “CovidLock”.

CovidLock ransomware

CovidLock asks for permission to access the lock screen. After that, it employs a technique known as screen-lock attack, which will be holding the phone hostage by blocking user access.

“The ransomware threatens to erase contacts, pictures, and videos on the infected device, as well as leak the victim’s social media account information and wipe all phone data unless a ransom of $100 is paid in Bitcoin within 48 hours,” according to the online publication.

Saleh said that phones which have the latest Android version installed should be fine if the user sets a password in order to unlock the screen.

“Since Android Nougat has rolled out, there is protection in place against this type of attack. However, it only works if you have set a password. If you haven’t set a password on your phone to unlock the screen, you’re still vulnerable to the CovidLock ransomware.”

You should check out more details in the original post on DomainTools.

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