This popular dashboard web application is hosted by Esri as part of our ArcGIS Online offering. To be clear, the online map posted by Johns Hopkins University at does NOT contain any malware (and NEVER contained malware). The company explained that the real online map found on Johns Hopkins’ site “does NOT contain any malware (and NEVER contained malware).” The reports from Hacker News and the like are referring to a scam that uses an impostor version of the Hopkins map to trick users into downloading malware.Īn increasing number of articles have been published on the Internet with unclear and sometimes misleading information concerning one of the primary dashboards for awareness concerning the spread of the Coronavirus.
#Hopkins corona tracker software#
This is the official URL from Johns Hopkins, and no indication exists that this site is unsafe or infected with malware.ĮSRI, the company that provided the geographic information system (GIS) software to create Johns Hopkins’ real-time coronavirus tracking map, attempted to clear up some of the confusion in a blog post. You can access the real-time tracking map by visiting this website.
#Hopkins corona tracker download#
The real map from Johns Hopkins is viewable online and does not require you to download any software to use it. The malware attack specifically aims to target those who are looking for cartographic presentations of the spread of COVID-19 on the Internet, and tricks them to download and run a malicious application that, on its front-end, shows a map loaded from a legit online source but in the background compromises the computer. Once downloaded, the map appears similar to the legitimate map from Johns Hopkins shown above, but the software will actually compromise the computer and attempt to steal personal information, such as passwords and credit card information.
Hacker News explained that this malware attack targets people who are searching for any maps about COVID-19 and tricks them into downloading a map with a file that runs a malicious application on the user’s computer. Attackers can use this information for many other operations as well, such as selling it on the deep web or for gaining access to bank accounts or social media. Reason Labs’ cybersecurity researcher, Shai Alfasi, found and analyzed this malware that had weaponized coronavirus map applications in order to steal credentials such as user names, passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive information that is stored in the users’ browser. This demand creates a vulnerability that malicious actors have quickly taken advantage of by spreading malware disguised as a “Coronavirus map”.
#Hopkins corona tracker full#
On March 9, 2020, Reason Security released a report stating that maps similar to the one above were being used to trick people into downloading malware:Īs global awareness of a Coronavirus pandemic gradually gives way to full out panic, and as governments begin ramping up their efforts to combat the virus and protect its citizens, global news agencies find themselves racing to answer the public’s demand for accurate information about new Corona related infections, deaths, transmissions, etc. Unfortunately, malicious actors saw the heightened concerns about COVID-19 as an opportunity to start spreading misinformation and malware. This is a genuine map from Johns Hopkins that is safe to access here. At the time of this writing, the map from Hopkins’ Coronavirus Research Center shows 137,445 total confirmed cases that have resulted in just over 5,000 deaths.
Johns Hopkins University also provided a valuable resource in the form of a real-time map that showed how the disease was spreading around the globe. They turned to organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) and the World Health Organization ( WHO) to get an accurate picture of how fast the disease was spreading, where cases were being reported, and what they should do to keep themselves (and their communities) safe. In March 2020, as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus grew into a global pandemic, worried citizens of the world took to the internet in search of information about the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19.
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