Anti-phishing company Sendmarc has established a R1-million fund – the Sendmarc Protect our Protectors programme – to help South Africa’s frontline responders protect their staff, patients and suppliers from phishing attacks amid the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The fund was launched in September in response to the increased number of cyberattacks around the world since early March – most notably against frontline responders – in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The World Health Organisation reported a fivefold increase in the number of cyberattacks directed at its staff, as well as the public at large, since the pandemic began. One of the biggest targets of malicious cyberattacks is hospitals, which are currently processing larger amounts of personal data as a result of widespread Covid-19 testing.

Sendmarc's research into the extent of vulnerability in South Africa’s healthcare sector in general concluded that the sector seems ill-equipped to deal with this increase in cyberattacks.

Sendmarc launched the programme to help a wide cross-section of first responders – from hospitals and clinics to laboratories and ambulance services – become Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance- (DMARC-) compliant. This protects their website domains against email impersonations, thereby avoiding phishing attacks that could result in a loss of data, funds and reputation.

“Our goal with the Protect our Protectors programme is to help relieve the strain, confusion and a potential loss of crucial funds and data from healthcare providers that may be vulnerable to cyberattacks at a time when cybersecurity is the last thing on their minds,” says Sendmarc co-founder Sacha Matulovich.

“By raising the money for this fund, we are able to deploy the DMARC standard across the healthcare sector, making it easy for the affected companies to focus on their core responsibilities and let us focus on ours, without cost and contract negotiations getting in the way of a fast and effective response.”

With the launch of the programme, Sendmarc has already identified key players in the healthcare industry, and is currently analysing their eligibility for the programme. Once they have been accepted, Matulovich estimates that the compliance process should take about a month to complete.

“Initial work within the first week should help with visibility in terms of what is happening on their domain. Thereafter, the next few weeks are about tightening the security so that any potential phishing attacks cannot be delivered," he says.

Beyond the healthcare sector, businesses in all industries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to phishing attacks, as more businesses transact internally while cyber-fraudsters become more sophisticated. In 2018, the McAfee Economic Impact of Cybercrime Report found that the estimated cost of cybercrime was $600-billion.

Matulovich advises businesses to investigate how vulnerable their domain is to potential phishing attacks. He also calls on other cybersecurity companies to join forces for this purpose. Information technology (IT) security company KnowBe4 has offered to extend a package to the Protect our Protectors beneficiaries that will help train their users and build their awareness about cybersecurity in general.

By initiating education in this regard, together with the launch of the Protect our Protectors programme, Sendmarc hopes to further its overall goal of making the Internet a safer place.

Matulovich recommends that businesses involved in South Africa’s healthcare response to fight the Covid-19 pandemic should apply to be a beneficiary of the Protect our Protectors programme.

Further, Sendmarc recommends that all domain owners check their DMARC safety score by using the free Sendmarc analysis tool. Domains with scores of less than four out of five need to ask their trusted IT administrator to explore DMARC compliance or contact Sendmarc.