Security experts at Alphabet Inc.’s Google sent 1,755 warnings in April to users whose accounts were targets of government-backed attackers, following a resurgence in hacking and phishing attempts related to the coronavirus outbreak.

Google said that its Threat Analysis Group saw new activity from “hack-for-hire” firms, many based in India, that have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the World Health
Organization (WHO).These accounts largely targeted business leaders in financial services, consulting and healthcare corporations in numerous countries including the United States,  Slovenia, Canada, India, Bahrain, Cyprus and UK, the company said in a blog post. Google said it continued to see attacks from hackers on medical and healthcare professionals, including WHO employees.

WHO and other organizations, at the center of a global effort to contain the coronavirus, have come under a sustained digital bombardment by hackers seeking information about the
outbreak. “Since March, we’ve removed more than a thousand YouTube channels that we believe to be part of a large campaign and that were behaving in a coordinated manner”, the blog post added.

As part of its efforts to help people during Covid-19 Google will also soon let businesses add additional descriptors to their listings that appear in Google Search and Maps results to better help potential customers understand what online services they offer. The company is adding these new descriptors and announcing a number of other features to help businesses better surface important information for customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The descriptors, which Google calls attributes, are short notes that show up under other business information on a listing.

The new attributes will let a business say what online services they have. That means a yoga studio offering virtual lessons could add an online classes attribute, for instance. Business owners will be able to add one online attribute, though their businesses will have to be verified by Google to use the feature.

Source- Reuters