Weekly Recap

In the July 31st edition of the Paycheck Protection Program report, the Small Business Administration released updated loan approval data. The cumulative amount of loans outstanding in GA for the last two weeks increased by 6949—from 160,449 to 167,398 active loans. The cumulative dollar amount of loans in GA for the last two weeks increased by $141,404,658—from $14.363 Billion to $14.504 Billion.

In the news

How Phishing Attacks have exploited the US small Business Administration

Lance Whitney

COVID-19 has proved to be a field day for cybercriminals who have used the outbreak to create malware associated with the virus and its various repercussions. One popular tactic is to spoof organizations involved in relief efforts, whether medical or financial.

The US Small Business Administration has been offering loans to businesses and other groups affected by the pandemic and lockdown, turning it into a target ripe for impersonation in phishing attacks. A report published Monday by security firm Malwarebytes tracks some of the different phishing campaigns that have sought to exploit the SBA.

April saw the first round of coronavirus-related attacks designed to deploy malware. Phishing emails were found containing malicious attachments with names such as “SBA_Disaster_Application_Confirmation_Documents_COVID_Relief.img.” The emails used the SBA logo and branding and prompted recipients to complete a grant for small business disaster assistance. One piece of malware hidden in the attached files was GuLoader, which is used to download the payload of your choice at the same time it attempts to evade antivirus detection.