# Characterizing the Landscape of COVID-19 Themed Cyberattacks and Defenses

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.13223 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.13223/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 25 Feb 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [AbuseGPT: Abuse of Generative AI ChatBots to Create Smishing Campaigns](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.09728/) (2024)
- [Case Study on Detecting COVID-19 Health-Related Misinformation in Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06811/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) hit the global society and economy with a big surprise. In particular, work-from-home has become a new norm for employees. Despite the fact that COVID-19 can equally attack innocent people and cybercriminals, it is ironic to see surges in cyberattacks leveraging COVID-19 as a theme, dubbed COVID-19 themed cyberattacks or COVID-19 attacks for short, which represent a new phenomenon that has yet to be systematically understood. In this paper, we make the first step towards fully characterizing the landscape of these attacks, including their sophistication via the Cyber Kill Chain model. We also explore the solution space of defenses against these attacks.