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Cyber attackers taking advantage of Zoom usage boom

Published on: 22 Apr 2020
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With most countries now managing the coronavirus pandemic by social distancing, millions of people are working from home and using video conferencing apps to help them.

Unfortunately, cyber attackers have been taking advantage of this and targeting users of the popular service Zoom with malware, adware and other malicious content.

TrendMicro has reported finding a Zoom installer that will also put a cryptocurrency miner on victims' computers, while BleepingComputer said it has seen Zoom being distributed with unwanted software bundles or remote access Trojans.

In some cases, hackers could get full access to people's computers and steal their data, install further malware or use webcams remotely.

Check Point Software Technology Ltd also revealed it has witnessed a significant rise in the number of fake Zoom domain names being registered in the past week, suggesting more criminals are capitalising on the trend.

To prevent cyber attacks, people working remotely are advised to ensure they download Zoom only from an official app store rather than following any hyperlinks they have been sent.

Zoom has become hugely popular during the coronavirus pandemic and gained more than 2.2 million users in early 2020, more than during the whole of 2019.