April 14, 2021
1163
0Within the Dark Net Offers for the COVID-19 Vaccine Increased by 350%
Check Point researchers found a 350% increase in the number of offers for the sale of vaccines and certificates related to COVID-19 on the Darknet since the start of this year.
Read all the needed information in this article about Dark net.
Since January, more than a thousand ads for the sale of vaccines and fake vaccine certificates have appeared on the anonymous parts of the internet. Experts warn that purchasing such goods from the internet can result in not only the loss of money but also personal data leakage.
Previously, we’ve already talked about massive leaks of personal data into the Dark Web. You can find out more here.
What’s happening?
The researchers from Check Point, reported about the increasing number of cases over the past months connected with selling the Covid-2019 vaccines. Also, they found evidence of selling fake vaccination test and certificates.
In the winter of 2021, the company reported that hundreds of messages appeared on the Darknet advertising illegal vaccines at prices of $500 to $1,000 per dose. They say that by mid-March, the number of ads had tripled to more than 1,200.
Did you hear that hackers attacked Linux? Read more here.
According to the results of the study, these are the most common vaccines against COVID-19 which are now offered for sale on the Darknet (with prices):
- Sputnik – $600
- SinoPharm – $500
- AstraZeneca – $500
- Johnson & Johnson – $600
It is worth noting that the origin and efficacy of these vaccines is unknown. They might be stolen. Unfortunately, these “vaccines” can also be imitations and contain nothing more than saline solution.
Hackers are everywhere. Read about the most famous ones.
What else can you find?
In addition, one can find fake vaccination certificates, or “COVID-19 passports” as they are sometimes called, available in the forums of the Darknet. The average cost of such a document is $150. The certificate will have a fake seal and personalized details.
Researchers at Check Point argue that governments urgently need to pay attention to the problem. The company is calling for the introduction of a special QR code system for vaccine documentation to approve and prevent producing fake documents and drugs.
A number of countries have already introduced digital vaccine passports: Greece began issuing them in January and agreed on mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccinations with Israel.
If you missed January’s cybersecurity news, you can read about it here.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last week proposed to introduce a single “digital green certificate” for vaccination against coronavirus for the European Union.
In Russia and Britain, the idea of introducing vaccine passports is also being discussed.
