Election season raises fears for nearly a third of people who worry their vote could be leaked

As the United States enters full swing into its next presidential election, people are feeling worried, unsafe, and afraid. And none of that has to do with who wins. According to new research from Malwarebytes, people see this election season as a particularly risky time for their online privacy...

Massive utility scam campaign spreads via online ads

For many households, energy costs represent a significant part of their overall budget. And when customers want to discuss their bills or look for ways to save money, scammers are just a phone call away. Enter the utility scam, where crooks pretend to be your utility company so they can threaten...

Google's New Tracking Protection in Chrome Blocks Third-Party Cookies

Google on Thursday announced that it will start testing a new feature called "Tracking Protection" starting January 4, 2024, to 1% of Chrome users as part of its efforts to deprecate third-party cookies in the web browser. The setting is designed to limit "cross-site tracking by restricting websi...

We all just need to agree that ad blockers are good

I dont think this is a particularly bold take -- but Im not afraid to say that ad blockers are good! Ever since I started using one sometime in 2016, my experience of using the internet has improved exponentially. I can finally easily find a recipe for dinner on a random influencers blog, get a...

YouTube shows ads for ad blocker, financial scams

After performing local experiments for a few months, YouTube recently expanded its effort to block ad blockers. The move was immediately unpopular with some users, and raised some questions in Europe about whether it was breaking privacy laws. In addition, there are some still some fundamental...

UK Sets Up Fake Booter Sites To Muddy DDoS Market

The United Kingdoms National Crime Agency NCA has been busy setting up phony DDoS-for-hire websites that seek to collect information on users, remind them that launching DDoS attacks is illegal, and generally increase the level of paranoia for people looking to hire such services. The warning...

UK Ad Campaign Seeks to Deter Cybercrime

The United Kingdom's anti-cybercrime agency is running online ads aimed at young people who search the Web for services that enable computer crimes, specifically trojan horse programs and DDoS-for-hire services. The ad campaign follows a similar initiative launched in late 2017 that academics say...

Widespread Malvertising Campaign Hijacks 300 Million Sessions

A massive malvertising campaign targeting iOS devices hijacked a whopping 300 million browser sessions in just 48 hours. Researchers at Confiant recorded the campaign Nov. 12, and said that the threat actor behind the campaign is still active to this day. A malicious landing page According to...

Once Popular Online Ad Format Opens Top Tier Sites to XSS Attacks

Certain types of online ads that expand, contract and pop-open aren’t just annoying – they can sometimes be dangerous. The ads in question are called expandable ads, which use what is called iFrame Busters code. The ads, together with iFrame Buster code, are designed to break the limits of a...

How to block ads like a pro

In part one of this series, we had a look at a few reasons why you should be blocking online advertisements on your network and devices. From malvertising attacks and privacy-invading tracking systems to just being an outright annoyance, online ads and trackers are a nuisance that provides an...

An Inside Look at Criminal Shipping Operations

Cyber criminals are relying more than ever on mules to move fenced goods from the U.S. to foreign markets for resale, according to a report on krebsonsecurity.com. With online retailers cracking down on fraudulent purchases, criminal gangs are using networks of complicit or unwitting citizens to...

NYTimes Scareware Attack Shows Weakness of Ad Networks

Media sites, including the New York Times, have become the latest targets of attackers who make their living by poisoning online ads and redirecting unsuspecting visitors to malicious Web pages or trying to trick them into downloading malware. Over the weekend attackers were able to buy ads on th...