WHO reports fivefold increase in cyberattacks and theft of data

The World Health Organization (WHO) is experiencing a substantial amount of pressure due to this global pandemic. They are already taking enough measures, warning countries about the pandemic, and are already working with other health agencies in several different ways to reduce the spread of the pandemic. However, now WHO needs to worry about the humongous increase in cyberattacks. On April 23rd, WHO reported fivefold increase in cyberattacks.

WHO mentioned that around 450 active email addresses have been leaked online, along with several other personnel’s working on this coronavirus pandemic. Although, the leaked data does not include any recent information, but confessed that the attack had impacted their older extranet which is now used by the retired staff and their partners. However, considering the threats, WHO is moving to a more secured authentication system that will ensure increased security for their data.

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Cyber criminals have become hyperactive during this pandemic, and they are launching sophisticated attacks on critical enterprises. Healthcare industry is at high alert, as any information on the discovery of a vaccine could be a huge new for the world. Hackers could be acting individually, or through their organized dark web groups, or at times this could be a state sponsored cyber espionage.

“Ensuring the security of health information for Member States and the privacy of users interacting with us a priority for WHO at all times, but also particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful for the alerts we receive from Member States and the private sector. We are all in this fight together,” 

– Bernardo Mariano, WHO’s Chief Information Officer. 

WHO will do its best to improve its security by partnering with several security vendors and other cyber agencies to establish robust cybersecurity frameworks, configurations and policies. In the last week of March, WHO was attacked by cyber criminals by mimicking WHO’s internal email system. However, it was a failure, but now it appears that hackers have infiltrated the network and have accessed the WHO’s data. With more robust cyber strategies, WHO hopes to reduce the quantity of cyberattacks in the future.

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