Cybersecurity Trends During a Health Crisis

• Author: Christina M. Jordan
• Pages: 2-3

Published in Litigation News Volume 46, Number 1, Fall 2020. © 2 020 by the American Bar A ssociation. Repro duced with permissi on. All rights reser ved. This informati on or any portion the reof may not be copie d or disseminated in any form

or by any means or stored i n an electronic database o r retrieval syst em without the expr ess written co nsent of the American B ar Association.

ear of the unknow n provides opportun ities for

cybercrimi nals to target computer users, and

the current COV ID-19 pandemic provide s fertile

hunting grounds . The ABA Sec tion of Litigation

held a panel addressing t hese issues, “Cybersecurity

Trends and the Impact of COVI D-19,” at the Virtual

Section An nual Conference in May. The panel moderator,

Danielle M. Pane tta, Boston , MA, and pa nelists Jay Doyle,

Washington, DC , and Grace C. Wen, New York, NY, dis-

cussed how the pandem ic has shaped cybersecurity t rends

and issues and what m ight be in store for the fut ure of

cybersecurity.

By Christina M. Jo rdan, Litigation N ews Associate Editor

Cybersecurity Trends During a

Health Crisis

Exploiting Current Events to Gain

Access to Information

This is not the  rst time cybercriminal s have used a health

crisis to gain un lawful access to computers, intelle ctual

property, bank accou nt information, us ernames, passwords,

and other persona l data—nor wil l it be the last. “Cri minals

often exploit curre nt events to socially eng ineer victims

through tai lored delivery of event-relevant ema ils that entice

victims to cl ick on links or provide cred entials,” states

Doyle. There has been over a 20 0-fold increase in phishing

emails since t he start of the COVID-19 crisis , Doyle adds.

“Phishing ema ils prey on people who are looking for

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