[conspire] New threat. Lots of emails about COVID-19 that are really ...

[Michael Paoli]

Mostly variations and/or slightly more, of the same old cruft.
Most of what to watch out for is not at all "new", and certainly
not fundamentally new.

What's (slightly) different?
o COVID-19/... the new something to be used in illegitimate
   communications to try to trick/scam users, etc.  Other such "new"
   stuff comes along pretty regularly, so not really "new".
o folks may be bit more stressed/panicked/busy/hurry/tired than usual,
   so there's bit higher probability they may make mistake(s).
o "shelter-in-place" / "work-from-home", etc. a lot more shifting of
   when/where/how folks are working, changes in environments and
   networking topologies, distractions, etc.  So, changes the
   security profiles some fair to moderate bit.  As many of these
   folks work remotely semi-regularly anyway, in some parts not that
   different, but for others its relatively new, either having been
   only rarely remote before or not at all, to frequently or (almost)
   exclusively remote now.
o societal/job shifts, (un)employment changes, etc.  Fair bit 'o stuff
   shifting around ... security profiles (think "attack surfaces") change
   somewhat.

Anyway, mostly not "huge" differences over-all, but at least some
moderate to (semi-)significant differences.  But too, the fundamentals
haven't changed.  So in a lot of ways it's mostly just more of the same.
Just pay a wee bit more attention, etc., 'cause the "bad guys" always
try to take advantage, ... and, well, they don't stop that just 'cause
there's a pandemic or something like that.  Rather some even step up
their efforts a bit more, trying to take advantage of the changes and/or
any confusion or newer vulnerabilities ... even if they're mostly just
relatively modest changes.

Oooh, and, all this COVID-19 ... & scams ... one slight positive.
My work cell doesn't seem to be getting the scam calls trying to sell
me some travel cruise vacations now.  (Most negatives have at least some
slight positive?)

> From: "Rick Moen" <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> Subject: Re: [conspire] (forw) Re: CABAL in the time of Cholera^W  
> SARS-CoV-2: March event cancelled
> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:11:13 -0700

> Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):
>
>>  New threat. 
>> Lots of emails about COVID-19 that are really malware spreading  
>> computer viruses.
>
> You have to admit, there's a certain poetry to that.
>
> (I refuse to take seriously the notion of e-mail being (allegedly)
> 'dangerous', given that only an idiot would run a program received as an
> e-mail attachment from Nobody-in-particular from Nowhere-in-particular.
> And people who do will learn a 'And that's why you don't point the gun
> at your feet before pulling the trigger' lesson.)