Singapore, Japan, and the US are amongst six nations targeted in a COVID-19 themed phishing campaign that is reportedly scheduled for June 21, during which 8,000 businesses in Singapore may receive email messages from a spoofed Ministry of Manpower account.

Singapore, Japan, and the US are amongst six nations reportedly targeted in a COVID-19 themed phishing campaign that is scheduled to take place June 21. North Korean state hacker group Lazarus are said to be behind the massive attack that will see more than 5 million businesses and individuals receiving phishing email messages from spoofed government accounts.

This would include 8,000 organisations in Singapore where the business contacts highlighted in an email template were addressed to members of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), according to a report from cybersecurity vendor Cyfirma. Introduced in 2001 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, SBF is responsible for promoting Singapore businesses and currently represents 27,200 companies."

SingCERT confirmed it received "information regarding a potential phishing campaign" and, in response, posted an advisory on its website Friday. It said there were "always" ongoing phishing attempts by various cyber criminals that used different themes and baits and spoofed different entities. This tactic remained a common and effective technique used to gain access to individuals' accounts, deliver malware, or trick victims into revealing confidential data, said SingCERT, which sits under Cyber Security Agency (CSA).