Health authorities warn of coronavirus scam posing as map of COVID-19 cases Malicious website looks like university’s web page
Screenshot taken of the Johns Hopkins coronavirus map on March 11, 2020 at 1:50 p.m. (Johns Hopkins)
A malicious website pretending to be a coronavirus live-tracking map is circulating the internet with the ability to steal personal information and sensitive data, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The harmful website looks like a copy of a web page created by John Hopkins University that shows a live map for coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases, according to HHS. The malicious website infects the computer of the user and with a program called ‘AZORult trojan,’ an information stealing program which can collect sensitive data, officials said.
A release said the false page is being spread through email attachments, malicious online advertisements and social engineering; anyone searching the internet looking for the real page by John Hopkins University could also accidentally navigate to the malicious page.
Local law enforcement agencies are also warning of the malicious software.
The real web page from John Hopkins University can be found below:
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About the Author Erin Dobrzyn headshot
Erin began her career at News 6 as an assignment editor, then became a show producer. She is now a digital storyteller as part of the Click Orlando team.
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