Criminals Exploiting Omicron News To Distribute Malware

Share post:

Fortinet researchers have discovered a new strain of malware called “RedLine,” which is used to steal information and credentials. Attackers exploit COVID-19 Omicron news to lure people to the malware.

The RedLine Stealer variant steals stored credentials for VPN applications such as NordVPN, OpenVPN and ProtonVPN. Fortinet explained that threat actors have previously used COVID-related emails to spread RedLine Stealer variants. The malware was embedded in a document designed to be opened by a victim.

Commenting on the growth of the malware, Fortinet noted, “The malware emerged just as the world began to deal with increased numbers of COVID patients and the growing fear and uncertainty that can cause people to lower their guard, which may have prompted its developers to use COVID as its lure.”

“Based on the information collected by FortiGuard Labs, potential victims of this RedLine Stealer variant are spread across 12 countries. This indicates that this is a broad-brush attack and that the threat actors did not target specific organizations or individuals,” Fortinet explained

For more information, read the original story in ZDNet.

Featured Tech Jobs

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Related articles

Cyber Security Today, March 27, 2024 – A botnet exploits old routers, a new malware loader discovered, and more warnings about downloading code from...

This episode reports on a new network of 40,000 infected small and home office routers and other devices that are part of a criminal botnet

Cyber Security Today, March 25, 2024 – A suspected China threat actor going after unpatched F5 and ScreenConnet installations

This episode reports on a new campaign stealing email passwords ,the latest data breaches

A hacker’s view of the civic infrastructure: Hashtag Trending, the Weekend Edition for March 23rd, 2024

What does the civic infrastructure look like through the eyes of a hacker? The legendary general Sun Tzu in the Art of War said that in order to defeat your enemy, you must first understand your enemy. How do you do this? He said, “to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” If we

Cyber Security Today, Week in Review for week ending Friday, March 22, 2024

This episode features discussion on lessons learned from the ransomware attack on the British Library, advice for managing expectations of IT/security teams, why firms are leaving Google Firebase unprotecte

Become a member

New, Relevant Tech Stories. Our article selection is done by industry professionals. Our writers summarize them to give you the key takeaways