Abstract
This empirical study is an exploration of the influence methods, fear appeals, and urgency cues applied by phishers to trick or coerce users to follow instructions presented in coronavirus-themed phishing emails. To that end, a content analysis of 208 coronavirus-themed phishing emails has been conducted. We identified nine types of phishing messages crafted by phishers. Phishing emails purporting to provide information about the spread of the disease were the most common type of unsolicited emails. Authority, liking and commitment emerged as the most common influence methods. Fear appeals and urgency cues were present in almost all of the sampled phishing messages. Finally, the analysis of coronavirus-themed phishing emails revealed a shift in the modus operandi of phishers. The implications of these results are discussed in this paper.
Highlights
The recent outbreak of coronavirus, which was later declared a pandemic, offered online perpetrators new opportunities to defraud users
The first category of phishing emails, which involve pretending to offer solutions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, is comprised of email messages impersonating health organizations and governmental agencies
An increased cybercrime victimization risk emerged as another ramification of the lockdown era which followed the declaration of the Covid19 pandemic
Summary
The recent outbreak of coronavirus, which was later declared a pandemic, offered online perpetrators new opportunities to defraud users. The Check Point Threat Intelligence report reveals that 3% of these domains were malicious, and 5% of them were suspicious (Check Point, 2020b). Cybersecurity reports indicate a substantial surge in malicious email activity. Google announced that its artificial intelligence-powered protection filter detected more than 18 million Covid-19 themed phishing and malware attacks in one single week in April 2020 (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, 2020; Lyons, 2020). These figures suggest that coronavirus has provided fraudsters with a targeted exploitation topic, which has rendered coronavirus-themed phishing a persistent threat
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