450 Active WHO Email Credentials Leaked Online

Exploit: Data Leak
Company: World Health Organization
Industry: Not-For-Profit, Healthcare
Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-04-2020-who-reports-fivefold-increase-in-cyber-attacks-urges-vigilance

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber security experts and government agencies have been engaged in efforts trying to combat the alarming growth of pandemic-related online scams. One of the many organizations that has continuously been a primary target for cyber criminals since the start of the pandemic has been the World Health Organization (WHO).

While many bad actors have been posing as the organization in order to trick the public and businesses into falling for their scams, several attempts have targeted the organization itself trying to gain access to their system and staff.

Just this week, the WHO reported an online leak of around 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords. Representatives stated that the WHO’s system itself is not at risk claiming that the compromised data was not recent and came from an old extranet system. Thus far, there have been no comments on how or why the leak happened.

The barrage of attacks on the organization due to the pandemic have increased by over five-fold in comparison to this same time last year. The WHO’s response to the increased attacks has been to implement a layered approach consisting of added security measures, further cyber security awareness training for staff, migrating affected systems to secure authentication systems and initiating an overall more robust internal system.

The WHO and cyber security experts are continually warning the public to be extra vigilant during these times. Beware of fraudulent emails and use authentic and reliable sources to find information and updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are searching for information, do not click on emailed links or attachments, simply go to the organization’s official website or to your local news website. The same goes for those that would like to donate to the COVID-19 Solidary Response Fund or other donation sites.  

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