WHO Data at Risk As Spike in Coronavirus CyberAttacks

Elite hackers attempted to break into the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month, sources told, part of what a top official in the organisation said was a more than double rise in cyberattacks. 

Flavio Aggio, Chief Information Security Officer of the WHO said the hackers ‘ identity was unknown, and the operation was unsuccessful. Yet he warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have risen as they struggle to contain the coronavirus, which since Tuesday has killed more than 16,000 people worldwide. 

Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity specialist and lawyer with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group, initially flagged the alleged break-in at the WHO to Reuters. Urbelis said he took up the operation around March 13, when a group of hackers he had tracked accessed a malicious site imitating the WHO’s internal email system. 

There are no difficult figures, but these attempts at compromise against us and the use of (WHO) impersonations to threaten others more than doubled. Last month the WHO released an alert-accessible here-warning that hackers pose as the agency to steal money and confidential public information. 

Officials and experts on cybersecurity have cautioned that hackers of all types are trying to capitalize on international concern about coronavirus spread.