From Trojan horses riding through the cyberspace to worms creeping in through email attachments, every system is threatened by malicious attacks.
But more threat has emerged since the Ebola outbreak as the virus has become the latest malware cybercriminals are using to infect systems.
Whenever you establish an internet connection for reading your mails or sharing files over the web, your system is exposed to an attack hidden under a false Ebola message.
By baiting users into clicking on malicious links or attachments, online hoodlums are exploiting this far reaching epidemic to viral the spread of malware.
Their causes have been further boosted by the growing concern, and search for information relating to managing the disease.
The virus has become so significant that the domain name Ebola.com sold for $200,000 last week.
This week, Trustwave, a private security and compliance consulting company that helps businesses fight cybercrime, protect data and reduce security risk, discovered several Ebola-themed threats, New York Times reports.
One of the threats included an email wrapped with the World Health Organization logo, with a misleading file on Ebola safety tips.
The file, once downloaded left a program on the host computer. This, as reported, could not be detected by antivirus programs.
The program can do several things, including taking control of their desktop remotely, modify and upload files and steal passwords.
“Unsurprisingly, cybercriminals have continued to piggyback on newsworthy and major events, disasters and outbreaks to lure potential victims and spread their malware,” New York Times quoted Trustwave spokeswoman Abby Ross as writing in an email.
The United States Computer Readiness Team had last week warned internet users about spam campaigns that bait users into clicking on malicious attachment or links with information on the Ebola virus.
“We are echoing their recommendation of never following unsolicited web links or attachments in email messages, particularly Ebola-themed ones,” Ross wrote.
Ebola Virus has killed 4922 since the outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013.
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Credit: Ventures Africa