COVID-19 , Cybercrime , Fraud Management & Cybercrime
Guarding Against COVID-19 Fraud Schemes
Attorney Robert Egan Discusses Trends, Mitigation Steps
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to surge, organizations must remain vigilant in their defense against coronavirus-themed phishing, business email compromise and other fraud campaigns, says attorney Robert Egan.
For instance, fraudsters are trying to exploit employees working from home as well as shortages of personal protective equipment and medical equipment, he says.
"We always know that the bad guys out there ... have no morals or scruples; they're always thinking about how to get ahead of the good guys," he says.
The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other governmental agencies have advised organizations to step up their safeguards against falling victim to fraud schemes, he notes in an interview with Information Security Media Group.
Critical mitigation steps, he says, include keeping anti-malware and software patches up to date, filtering email and attachments and implementing multifactor authentication.
In the interview (see audio link below photo), Egan also discusses:
- Emerging security and privacy concerns involving mobile COVID-19 contact tracing applications;
- Privacy and security issues related to biometric technologies;
- Evolving financial fraud schemes.
Egan is a senior shareholder at Archer & Greiner, a Haddonfield, New Jersey-based law firm. He serves as chair of the firm's data privacy and cybersecurity group.
