Google India COVID-19 website to inform about online security risks

Google India on Wednesday launched a new website focused on COVID-19 related security risks which is now available in regional languages such as Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Bangla.

The website will inform about online risks and scams and help users stay safe online. During the past couple of weeks, Google's advanced machine-learning classifiers have globally seen 18 million daily malware and phishing attempts related to COVID-19, in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related spam messages.

"The Google Threat Analysis Group continuously monitors for sophisticated hacking activity, and their security systems have detected a range of new scams such as phishing emails posing as messages from charities and NGOs battling COVID-19, directions from "administrators" to employees working from home, and even notices spoofing healthcare providers," the company said in a statement.

With many of the COVID-19 related scams coming in the form of phishing emails, it's important to pause and evaluate any COVID-19 related email before clicking any links or taking other action.

According to the tech giant, users should be wary of requests for personal information such as home addresses or bank details. Google systems have also spotted malware-laden sites that pose as sign-in pages for popular social media accounts, health organisations, and even official coronavirus maps.

To help protect you against these risks, the company has built advanced security protections into Google products to automatically identify and stop threats before they ever reach users. Google machine learning models in Gmail already detect and block more than 99.9 per cent of spam, phishing, and malware.

Also, the security built into the Chrome browser also protects users by alerting them in case of fraudulent websites. Moreover, Google Play Protect scans millions of apps in Google Play to safeguard users against any such risks, the company said.