This Week in Security News: Scams and Security Risks

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, the EU and Japan finalized an agreement enabling the cross-border transfer of data. Also, businesses are turning to machine learning to comb...

Introducing: Malwarebytes Browser Extension

Are you tired of all the unwanted content the world wide web offers up, whether you like it or not? It is our privilege to introduce you to the Malwarebytes Browser Extension BETA. Or, better said, the Malwarebytes Browser Extensions, because we have one for Firefox and one for Chrome. Introducti...

Fortnite Scammers Approaching $1m in Annual Takings

When something seems too good to be true, it probably is. It’s a hard lesson to learn and, in this case, one that’s being taught by scammers. The perpetrators are abusing the fact that online players of Battle Royale games may be very eager to get free in-game currency and items, and are willing ...

A week in security (July 16 – July 22)

Last week on Labs, we looked at a Magniber expansion, explored open source vulnerabilities, and checked out the boons and drawbacks of smart assistants. We also continued our ad blocking article extravaganza, gave a whistlestop tour of third-party problems, and published our Q2 Cybercrime tactics...

Online generators… of dashed expectations

Quite recently, we and hence our security solutions started to designate an entire class of sites — gift card generators — as fraudulent, despite their not stealing any money or personal data from visitors. Why? Let's try to unpick these sites and see how they work. How it works Ads for all kinds...

FTC Issues Alert on Tech Support Scams

The Federal Trade Commission has released an alert on tech support scams. Scammers use pop-up messages, websites, emails, and phone calls to entice users to pay for fraudulent tech support services to repair problems that don’t exist. Users should not pay or give control of their devices to any...

Sextortionists Shift Scare Tactics to Include Legit Passwords

A fresh take on the classic sextortion scam is making the rounds, with several reports confirming a new wrinkle in approach: The inclusion of a legitimate password in the email for the campaign. Multiple end users have received scam email messages from actors claiming to have taken over the...

Block all or nothing to prevent ICO fraud?

At Malwarebytes, we feel we have reached a point where we need to ask our customers how to proceed on the subject of ICO scams. Asking for your opinion may seem strange to some of you, but Malwarebytes comes from a community of mutual help and trust. If you were unaware of this, reading how our C...

In cryptoland, trust can be costly

While the legal status of cryptocurrencies and laws to regulate them continue to be hammered out, scammers are busy exploiting the digital gold rush. Besides hacking cryptocurrency exchanges, exploiting smart-contract vulnerabilities, and deploying malicious miners, cybercriminals are also...

Cybercrime in the Spotlight: How Crooks Capitalize on Cultural Events

ARCHIVED STORY Cybercrime in the Spotlight: How Crooks Capitalize on Cultural Events By John Fokker · July 03, 2018 Every four years, everyone’s head around the globe turns toward the television. The Olympics, the World Cup – world events like these have all eyes viewing friendly competition...

Typeform, Popular Online Survey Software, Suffers Data Breach

Typeform, the popular Spanish-based online data collection company specializes in form building and online surveys for businesses worldwide, has today disclosed that the company has suffered a data breach that exposed partial data of its some users. The company identified the breach on June 27th,...

Rewards Points Targeted by Teens in Hack of 500K Accounts

A pair of Russian teens have been arrested for infiltrating more than a half-million online accounts, in particular targeting services that offer rewards points. Russian authorities at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in an announcement Wednesday that the duo came to their attention in late...

Five easy ways to recognize and dispose of malicious emails

I suppose we all get our share of spam. Some more than others. But how do we differentiate between simple commercial spam and the types of emails that want to get us in trouble? The unsolicited commercial spam email is generally easy to recognize, report, and discard, but what about more dangerou...

Epic Games Fortnite for Android–APK Downloads Leads to Malware

Given Fortnite's current popularity and craziness across the globe, we understand if you have been searching the web for download links to Fortnite APK for Android phone. However, you are not alone, thousands of people out there are also searching tutorials and links for, "how to install Fortnite...

FTC, Partners Help Small Businesses Stop Scams

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has launched Operation Main Street, an effort with the Better Business Bureau BBB and law enforcement to educate small business owners on how to stop scams targeting their businesses. Accordingly, FTC released Scams and Your Small Business, a guide for businesses...

Feds Arrest 74 Email Fraudsters Involved in Nigerian BEC Scams

The United States Department of Justice announced Monday the arrest of 74 email fraudsters across three continents in a global crackdown on a large-scale business email compromise BEC scheme. The arrest was the result of a six-month-long operation dubbed "Operation Wire Wire" that involved the US...

PSA: Users with landlines are more vulnerable to scams

It’s time to have “the talk” with your parents, relatives, and loved ones. Anyone still using a landline must be warned: having a home phone makes you particularly vulnerable to scams. We know here at Malwarebytes that our readers are often the unofficial “IT” department for their families,...

World Cup, Vacation Scams Lead in Phishing Trips this Summer

Summer is one of the traditional seasons of scamming, and this summer is shaping up to be a hot one on that front, with active campaigns swirling around supposed “security incidents,” vacation bookings and, of course, the World Cup. Scammers, for instance, recently targeted Booking.com customers...

A week in security (May 28 – June 3)

Last week on Labs, we talked about the significance of SEO poisoning in the world of search marketing, blackmail attempts against financial institutions in Canada, voice command flaws in smart assistants, survey and potential phishing scams on Instagram, and the latest changes in Office 365. We...

A week in security (May 21 – May 27)

Last week we told you about a Mac cryptominer using XMRig, an overview of Dreamcast related scams, part 1 of decoding Emotet, and what to do about bad coding habits that die hard. We also published the results of our second CrackMe contest. Other news How a pioneer of machine learning became one ...