Congress 'abusing' Hindus by protesting against CAA, should be called 'Muslim League Congress': BJP

Bengaluru, May 21: The COVID-19-induced lockdown saw a spurt in crybercrimes in India with Kerala recording the highest number during the period, according to an analysis of IT security solutions provider K7 Computing.

The report analyses various cyberattacks within India during the pandemic and reveals that threat actors targeted the States with COVID-19-themed attacks aimed at exploiting user trust.

The sudden surge in the frequency of attacks witnessed from February 2020 to mid-April 2020 indicates that scamsters across the world were exploiting the widespread panic around coronavirus at both the individual and corporate level, the company said in a statement.

These attacks aimed to compromise computers and mobile devices to gain access to users confidential data, banking details and cryptocurrency accounts.

The key threats seen during this period ranged from phishing attacks to rogue apps disguised as COVID-19 information apps that targeted users sensitive data.

Phishing attacks were noticed more in Tier-II and Tier-III cities while the metros fared better.

Smaller cities saw over 250 attacks being blocked per 10,000 users.

Users from Ghaziabad and Lucknow seem to have faced almost six and four times the number of attacks, respectively, as Bengaluru users.

In Kerala, regions like Kottayam, Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi saw the highest hits with 462, 374, 236, and 147 attacks respectively, while the state as a whole saw around 2,000 attacks during the period, the highest thus far in the country.

This was followed by Punjab with 207 attacks and Tamil Nadu at 184 attacks, the statement said.

A majority of the recorded attacks were phishing attacks with sophisticated campaigns that could easily snare even the most educated users, it said.

These attacks were aimed at heightening users fears and creating a sense of urgency to take action.

The report noted phishing attacks where scamsters posed as representatives of the United States Department of the Treasury, the World Health Organisation, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Users were encouraged to visit links that would automatically download malware on the host computer such as the Agent Tesla keylogger or Lokibot information-stealing malware, infamous banking Trojans such as Trickbot or Zeus Sphinx, and even disastrous ransomware.

Other attacks included infected COVID-19 Android apps like CoronaSafetyMask that scam users with promises of masks for an upfront payment; the spyware app Project Spy; and seemingly genuine apps that are infected with dangerous malware like banking Trojans such as Ginp, Anubis and Cerberus, it was stated.

New Delhi, Jan 31: Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Friday said she will continue her fight till the convicts in the 2012 gangrape and murder case are hanged, shortly after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants till further order.

Devi told reporters her "hopes are dashed" but she will continue her fight.

"These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.

A Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case till further order.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana passed the order on a plea by the convicts seeking a stay on their execution on Saturday, February 1.

Devi said because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged".

The black warrants for execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless one) was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived as his grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of duty as terrorists opened fire on a patrol team.

In heart-wrenching images, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen, according to the police.

The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of the child being carried to safety by a policeman.

"Jammu and Kashmir police rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police.

The child was travelling in a Maruti car with his grandfather from Srinagar to Handwara when it was hit by a spray of bullets in Sopore town, which is in Baramulla district about 50 km from Srinagar.

The police said terrorists hiding in a mosque fired indiscriminately at the patrol team as it was getting off a bus. The CRPF troops retaliated but the terrorists managed to escape.

According to the CRPF, the grandfather stopped the car and got out to run to a safe spot but was shot dead in the firing by terrorists. The boy was later rescued by a policeman standing nearby.

Last week, a six-year-old boy was killed during a terror attack on the CRPF in Anantnag.

Little Nihaan Bhat was sleeping in a parked car when he was hit by a bullet. Police say the terrorist was on a bike and opened fire from a pistol on a CRPF patrol. One jawan was killed. The child's killing drew widespread anger and condemnation.

The terrorist believed to be involved in the Anantnag attack escaped yesterday after an encounter with security forces. Police said two other terrorists who were hiding with him at a village were killed.