The explosion of cyber attacks and online fraud enabled by
COVID-19 and the rapid (and, in some cases, haphazard) deployment
of a global remote work force1 have pushed agencies
responsible for consumer and citizen protection into higher gear.
Their approaches have ranged from passive postings to aggressive
countermeasures, according their differing resources and
mandates.
Canada
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
(“CCCS”) recently published a new
Bulletin detailing how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected
cyber threat activity.2
The CCCS found that, as of late-April 2020, over 120,000 new
domains had been registered with some type of COVID-19 theme, a
large proportion of which the CCCS considered to be malicious or
related to fraudulent activity. There are also SMS phishing
campaigns operating, claiming to be notices from governmental
authorities of emergency relief. These are operations specifically
geared to leverage the anxiety and uncertainty the
