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The departments of Veterans Affairs and Justice each said they have experienced an increase in coronavirus-themed cyberattack attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile VA has not seen an increase in phishing attempts, we have seen a change from normal phishing-related themes to a focus on COVID-related themes,\u201d said Joe Williams, a spokesman for the VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is leading the government\u2019s COVID-19 response, has not experienced an increase, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several agencies told Fifth Domain they\u2019ve completed anti-phishing training for employees and that department IT officials are constantly communicating with employees about threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some anti-phishing efforts appear to be working. The Department of Education\u2019s security operations center has received a \u201cconsiderable\u201d increase is reported phishing attempts from employees, according to a spokesperson, but hasn\u2019t observed an increase in overall phishing attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, after an employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported a phishing email to the department\u2019s Cyber Incident Response Team, the team searched 44,000 HUD inboxes, finding 4,366 malicious emails, a department spokesperson told Fifth Domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fifth Domain shared the results of its survey with experts from threat intelligence firm Mandiant, who said that the numbers aligned with what the company has observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere has not been a pronounced change in the threat of spear-phishing but also other malicious activity that we\u2019ve seen,\u201d said Ben Read, senior manager at Mandiant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are people doing them, and they are still the same people,\u201d Read said. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a massive increase in the \u2026 cyberespionage or cybercriminal workforce that would facilitate more spear-phishes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n