FBI Releases Article on Defending Against Payroll Phishing Scams

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has released an article on building a digital defense against phishing scams targeting electronically deposited paychecks. In these schemes, scammers use phishing emails to direct employees to fraudulent websites and collect their work credentials. Scammers...

A week in security (October 8 – 14)

Last week, we warned you away from some dubious Doctor Who streams, explained how Endpoint Detection and Response may not be enough, and explored what happens during a confusing supply chain story. We also showed you how to keep up with security, explained the risks of fake browser updates, and...

Malwarebytes Labs Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques Report (CTNT) shows shift to business targets in Q3

Once again, it's that time of year: time for the quarterly Malwarebytes Labs Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques Report. Strap in your seat belts, folks, because the third quarter of 2018 was quite a wild ride. After a sleepy first two quarters, cybercriminals shook out the cobwebs and revved up...

The BEC List: Helping Thwart Business Email Compromise through Collaboration

Today, the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group M3AAWG gave the JD Falk Award to the Business Email Compromise BEC List. The BEC List comprises cybersecurity firms, researchers and internet infrastructure companies that help deal with cybercriminal activities and schemes. The JD...

Avoid these Doctor Who Series 11 scams

The new season of Doctor Who has finally landed on television screens around the world, and we’ve started to see the first few signs of spam and other assorted nonsense lumbering online. A rash of YouTube accounts claiming to offer up the new series are making the rounds, all of which generally...

Beware of Hurricane Florence Relief Scams

If you're thinking of donating money to help victims of Hurricane Florence, please do your research on the charitable entity before giving: A slew of new domains apparently related to Hurricane Florence relief efforts are now accepting donations on behalf of victims without much accountability fo...

Mass WordPress compromises redirect to tech support scams

Content Management Systems CMSes such as WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla are under a constant barrage of fire. Earlier this year, we detailed several waves of attacks against Drupal, also known as Drupalgeddon, pushing browser-based miners and various social engineering threats. During the past few...

6 sure signs someone is phishing you—besides email

There are several common and, unfortunately, frequently successful avenues of attack that cybercriminals can use to part you from your personal contact and financial information. These phishing attack methods include email, phone calls, corrupted software or apps, social media, advertisements, an...

A week in security (September 10 – 16)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we assessed the security of a portable router, identified ways to waste a scammer's time, named the many faces of omnichannel fraud, questioned the security of 2FAs, profiled a massive tech support scam operation, and exposed a new HMRC phishing campaign. Other...

BEC is Big Business for Hackers: What makes these attacks so hard to prevent?

For years, one of the most lucrative ways for hackers to generate profits was through ransomware attacks. These instances involve the use of strong encryption to lock victims out of their files and data - attackers then sell the decryption key in exchange for an untraceable Bitcoin ransom payment...

A week in security (August 20 – August 26)

Last week on Labs, we took a look at insider threats, doubled back on the privacy of search browser extensions, profiled green card scams, revisited Defcon badgelife, and talked about what happens to a user's accounts when they die. Other cybersecurity news There was an archiving error in Twitch...

T-Mobile Alerts 2.3 Million Customers of Data Breach Tied to Leaky API

Wireless carrier T-Mobile notified its 2.3 million subscribers via text message earlier this week that their personal account information may have been exposed. The warnings accompanied a customer advisory posted to the T-Mobile website alerting all its 77 million customers of the breach. Affecte...

Green card scams: preying on the desperate

Thanks to @nullcookies for providing leads. Most online scams depend on two things for success: a broken or otherwise onerous process to deal with a legitimate entity, and a desperate target population. With immigration, there are many, many burdensome processes to navigate, and most applicants...

ThreatList: $1.1M is Lost to Cybercrime Every Minute of Every Day

Every 60 seconds, $1.1 million is lost to cyberattacks. That staggering stat comes to us by way of RiskIQ, which compiled proprietary and third-party research to crunch numbers around malicious activity. The resulting report, the appropriately named “Evil Internet Minute,” paints a stark picture ...

ThreatList: Financial-Themed Phishing Hooks Targets in Q2

The financial sector continued to be a main target of phishing attacks in the second quarter. Kaspersky Lab’s Spam and Phishing in Q2 2018 report found that one-third 35.7 percent of observed attempts were related to financial services including banks, payment services and online stores, targetin...

FBI Releases Guidance on Defending Against Travel Scams

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has released an article on building a digital defense against travel scams. FBI explains how scammers trick consumers with "free" vacation ploys. These offers may be fake or involve hidden fees. Legitimate companies will not ask prize winners to pay to clai...

FBI Releases Article on Building a Digital Defense Against Facebook Scams

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has released an article on building a digital defense against a fraud that uses Facebook’s texting app—Facebook Messenger. Scammers send messages that appear to be from trusted sources or trick users into clicking on malicious links or sharing personal...

A week in security (July 30 – August 5)

Last week, we posted a roundup of spam that may have landed in your mailbox, talked about what makes us susceptible to social engineering tactics, and took a deep dive into big data. Other news: Facebook claimed to have removed accounts that display behavior consistent with possible Russian actor...

The Year Targeted Phishing Went Mainstream

A story published here on July 12 about a new sextortion-based phishing scheme that invokes a real password used by each recipient has become the most-read piece on KrebsOnSecurity since this site launched in 2009. And with good reason -- sex sells the second most-read piece here was my 2015 scoo...

Reddit Breach Highlights Limits of SMS-Based Authentication

Reddit.com today disclosed that a data breach exposed some internal data, as well as email addresses and passwords for some Reddit users. As Web site breaches go, this one doesn't seem too severe. What's interesting about the incident is that it showcases once again why relying on mobile text...