A week in security (October 23 – October 29)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Malvertising via Dynamic Search Ads delivers malware bonanza Octo Tempest cybercriminal group is "a growing concern"—Microsoft Update now! Apple patches a raft of vulnerabilities Patch…later? Safari iLeakage bug not fixed Update vCenter Server now! VMWare fixes...

Malvertising via Dynamic Search Ads delivers malware bonanza

Most, if not all malvertising incidents result from a threat actor either injecting code within an existing ad, or intentionally creating one. Today, we look at a different scenario where, as strange as that may sound, malvertising was entirely accidental. The reason this happened was due to the...

Malvertising Campaign Targets Brazil's PIX Payment System with GoPIX Malware

The popularity of Brazil's PIX instant payment system has made it a lucrative target for threat actors looking to generate illicit profits using a new malware called GoPIX. Kaspersky, which has been tracking the active campaign since December 2022, said the attacks are pulled off using malicious...

Hong Kong residents targeted in malvertising campaigns for WhatsApp, Telegram

Malvertising is a powerful malware or scam delivery mechanism that makes it easy to target specific geographies or even users. A recent article from the South China Morning Post discussed an increase in malicious webpages for the popular WhatsApp communication tool, driven via malicious Google ad...

Stealer for PIX payment system, new Lumar stealer and Rhysida ransomware

Introduction As a cybersecurity company, Kaspersky is constantly dealing with known and brand-new malware samples. As part of our crimeware reporting service, we provide our customers with technical reports on the evolution of existing crimeware families, as well as newly emerging ones. In this...

A week in security (October 16 - October 22)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Ragnar Locker ransomware group taken down IT administrators' passwords are awful too The hot topics from Europe's largest trade fair for IT security Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to look like KeePass's official website 3 crucial security steps people...

A week in security (October 16 – October 22)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Ragnar Locker ransomware group taken down IT administrators passwords are awful too The hot topics from Europes largest trade fair for IT security Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to look like KeePasss official website 3 crucial security steps people should...

Malvertisers Using Google Ads to Target Users Searching for Popular Software

Details have emerged about a malvertising campaign that leverages Google Ads to direct users searching for popular software to fictitious landing pages and distribute next-stage payloads. Malwarebytes, which discovered the activity, said it's "unique in its way to fingerprint users and distribute...

Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to look like KeePass’s official website

Threat actors are known for impersonating popular brands in order to trick users. In a recent malvertising campaign, we observed a malicious Google ad for KeePass, the open-source password manager which was extremely deceiving. We previously reported on how brand impersonations are a common...

The forgotten malvertising campaign

In recent weeks, we have noted an increase in malvertising campaigns via Google searches. Several of the threat actors we are tracking have improved their techniques to evade detection throughout the delivery chain. We believe this evolution will have a real world impact among corporate users...

FBI, CISA Warn of Rising AvosLocker Ransomware Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure

The AvosLocker ransomware gang has been linked to attacks against critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S., with some of them detected as recently as May 2023. That's according to a new joint cybersecurity advisory released by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA and...

Microsoft's AI-Powered Bing Chat Ads May Lead Users to Malware-Distributing Sites

Malicious ads served inside Microsoft Bing's artificial intelligence AI chatbot are being used to distribute malware when searching for popular tools. The findings come from Malwarebytes, which revealed that unsuspecting users can be tricked into visiting booby-trapped sites and installing malwar...

Malicious Ads Infiltrate Bing AI Chatbot in Malvertising Attack

By Waqas Is it really necessary to display advertisements within an AI chatbot? This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Malicious Ads Infiltrate Bing AI Chatbot in Malvertising Attack...

Malicious ad served inside Bing's AI chatbot

In February 2023, Microsoft disclosed its new AI-assisted search engine, Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4. Even though Google has been dominating the search industry for years, this event was significant enough to generate not only interest but also plant the seed for a possible change in the...

New ZenRAT Malware Targeting Windows Users via Fake Password Manager Software

A new malware strain called ZenRAT has emerged in the wild that's distributed via bogus installation packages of the Bitwarden password manager. "The malware is specifically targeting Windows users and will redirect people using other hosts to a benign web page," enterprise security firm Proofpoi...

PSA: Ongoing Webex malvertising campaign drops BatLoader

A new malvertising campaign is targeting corporate users who are downloading the popular web conferencing software Webex. Threat actors have bought an advert that impersonates Cisco's brand and is displayed first when performing a Google search. We are releasing this blog to warn users about this...

Microsoft Teams used to deliver DarkGate Loader malware

Researchers have found a new method by which cybercriminals are spreading the DarkGate Loader malware. Until now, DarkGate was typically distributed via phishing emails. The malspam campaign used stolen email threads to lure victims into clicking a hyperlink, which downloaded the malware. But...

A week in security (September 4 - September 10)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Supply chain related security risks, and how to protect against them Password-stealing Chrome extension smuggled on to Web Store Smart chastity device exposes sensitive user data X wants your biometric data Mac users targeted in new malvertising campaign delivering...

Mac Users Beware: Malvertising Campaign Spreads Atomic Stealer macOS Malware

A new malvertising campaign has been observed distributing an updated version of a macOS stealer malware called Atomic Stealer or AMOS, indicating that it's being actively maintained by its author. An off-the-shelf Golang malware available for $1,000 per month, Atomic Stealer first came to light ...

Mac users targeted in new malvertising campaign delivering Atomic Stealer

Summary Malicious ads for Google searches are targeting Mac users Phishing sites trick victims into downloading what they believe is the app they want The malware is bundled in an ad-hoc signed app so it cannot be revoked by Apple The payload is a new version of the recent Atomic Stealer for OSX...