Google says Gmail blocks 18 million coronavirus-related phishing emails daily

Coronavirus-related phishing attacks and malware have been on a rise in the past couple of weeks. We have already seen examples of how malicious actors are using coronavirus maps and coronavirus tracking apps to break into users personal computers and their smartphones. Now Google has shared more information in this regard.

The tech giant has shared detailed information about the number of Covid-19 related phishing attacks and spam messages that its emailing service, Gmail, is blocking everyday. According to Google, Gmail blocks about 18 million coronavirus-related phishing emails every day. To give you some clue, the company said that Gmail blocks nearly 100 million phishing emails everyday.

In addition to phishing emails, the company has also been blocking millions of spam messages pertaining to the virus outbreak daily. "This is in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related daily spam messages. Our ML models have evolved to understand and filter these threats, and we continue to block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching our users," the company wrote in a blog post.

Google also provided examples of the phishing attacks that used 'both fear and financial incentives to create urgency to try to prompt users to respond'. The list includes emails impersonating WHO and other governmental agencies soliciting donations, emails impersonating government's relief packages for small businesses and stay-at-home orders and emails among other things.

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The company said that it had put "proactive monitoring in place for COVID-19-related malware and phishing" across its systems. "As soon as we identify a threat, we add it to the Safe Browsing API, which protects users in Chrome, Gmail, and all other integrated products."

"In G Suite, advanced phishing and malware controls are turned on by default, ensuring that all G Suite users automatically have these proactive protections in place," the company added.