Luiss Open: Cybercriminals in the time of the coronavirus
For the past few days, many people who use digital channels have been receiving very concerning alerts, including from the Italian Postal Police, warning of malware being spread via email through massive spam campaigns. Naturally, at a time when our lives are affected by the spread of the epidemic, the first question that comes to mind is: who, in such a tragic moment, would consider sabotaging a means of communication that has proven indispensable in helping us cope with the coronavirus emergency? It’s a tool that allows us to keep students from losing their school year, to organize university classes and graduation ceremonies remotely, to stay in constant touch with relatives and friends near and far, to hold board meetings, and to manage judicial and productive work. It's a channel that allows authorities and institutions to convey messages, preventive medicine guidance, statistics, decrees requiring immediate implementation, and rules and behavioral guidelines. Of course, there are other highly effective and timely means of communication, such as radio and television, but who among us hasn't selected the online messages that interested us the most to save, study, analyze, and delve deeper into them? Right now, as we've all realized just how indispensable this communication system is, we're striving to harness its full potential and speed up e-learning, electronic notifications, and the legal recognition of online activities. However, we're also seeing how dangerously fragile it is and how vulnerable it is to malicious actors.