A week in security (December 31, 2018 – January 6, 2019)

Last week on Labs, we looked back at 2018 as the year of data breaches, homed in on pre-installed malware on mobile devices, and profiled a malicious duo, Vidar and GandCrab. Other cybersecurity news 2019's first data breach: It took less than 24 hours. An unauthorized third-party downloaded 30,0...

Using the blockchain to create secure backups

“Oh no! I’ve got a ransomware notice on my workstation. How did this happen?” “Let’s figure that out later. First, apply the backup from a few minutes ago, so we can continue to work.” Now that wasn't so painful, was it? Having a rollback solution or a recent backup could make this ideal post...

SamSam ransomware: controlled distribution for an elusive malware

SamSam ransomware has been involved in some high profile attacks recently, and remains a somewhat elusive malware. In its time being active, SamSam has gone through a slight evolution, adding more features and alterations into the mix. These changes do not necessarily make the ransomware more...

Why tech companies wanted Senate Bill 315 vetoed

When Georgia Senate Bill 315 SB-315 was introduced, people in the tech world anxiously awaited its fate, regardless of their geographic location. They knew that some laws initially restricted to single states become more widespread after politicians set precedents. And they knew that this law cou...

Lazarus APT conceals malicious code within BMP image to drop its RAT

This blog was authored by Hossein Jazi Lazarus APT is one of the most sophisticated North Korean Threat Actors that has been active since at least 2009. This actor is known to target the U.S., South Korea, Japan and several other countries. In one of their most recent campaigns Lazarus used a...

Likely lead generation scam targets potential Malwarebytes MSP partners

Recently, Malwarebytes discovered a potential lead generation scam targeting companies that are interested in our Malwarebtyes Managed Service Provider MSP Program. In the scam, an individual who used the name “Jenny” aggressively contacted potential MSP partners claiming to represent Malwarebyte...

Lock and Code S1Ep5: Mythbusting and understanding VPNs with JP Taggart

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs and around the Internet. In addition, we talk to JP Taggart, senior security researcher at Malwarebytes, about VPNs—debunking their myths, explaining their actual capabilities, and providing some advice...

Report: Organizations remain vulnerable to increasing insider threats

The latest data breach at Capital One is a noteworthy incident not because it affected over 100 million customer records, 140,000 Social Security numbers SSNs, and 80,000 linked bank accounts. Nor was it special because the hack was the result of a vulnerable firewall misconfiguration. Many still...

A week in security (June 3 – 9)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we rounded up some leaks and breaches, reported about Magecart skimmers found on Amazon CloudFront CDN, proudly announced we were awarded as Best Cybersecurity Vendor Blog at the annual EU Security Blogger Awards, discussed how Maine inches closer to shutting down...

Google Chrome announces plans to improve URL display, website identity

“Unreadable gobbledygook” is one way to describe URLs today as we know them, and Google has been attempting to redo their look for years. In their latest move to improve how Chrome—and of course, how the company hopes other browsers would follow suit—displays the URL in its omnibox the address ba...

How the government shutdown is influencing cybersecurity jobs

As of this writing, the government shutdown of 2019 is the longest ever in America. The only good news about this situation is that, with each passing day, a new group of people in the country seems to rediscover just how essential government services are, now that they're unavailable. The next...

Social Security Number scammers are at it again

The Federal Trade Commission FTC once again sounded the alarm in mid-December about the latest Social Security Number SSN scam that continues to affect thousands of Americans. While most of us were only able to read about this type of scam in the past, the FTC now has an audio recording of an SSN...

Mac cryptocurrency ticker app installs backdoors

An astute contributor to our forums going by the handle 1vladimir noticed that an app named CoinTicker was exhibiting some fishy behavior over the weekend. It seems that the app is covertly installing not just one but two different backdoors. Behaviors The CoinTicker app, on the surface, appears ...

Bye, bye Petya! Decryptor for old versions released.

Following the outbreak of the Petya-based malware in Ukraine, the author of the original version, Janus, decided to release his master key, probably closing the project. You can read the full story here. Based on the released key, we prepared a decryptor that is capable of unlocking all the...

Ransomware review: November 2023

This article is based on research by Marcelo Rivero, Malwarebytes ransomware specialist, who monitors information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web sites. In this report, "known attacks" are those where the victim did not pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture of...

Update now! Chrome patches critical RCE vulnerability in Safe Browsing

Google has issued an update for the Chrome browser which includes 26 security fixes. What stands out is that one of these fixes is rated as "critical". The critical vulnerability is a use after free bug in the Safe Browsing feature. The Stable channel has been updated to 97.0.4692.99 for Windows,...

A week in security (Sept 20 – Sept 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Freedom Hosting operator gets 27 years for hosting dark web abuse sites Microsoft makes a bold move towards a password-less future New Mac malware masquerades as iTerm2, remote desktop and other apps Internet safety tips for kids and teens: a comprehensive guide for...

The best test for an EDR solution is one that works for you

Since its inception, the endpoint detection and response EDR market has evolved rapidly with new innovations to better address the cyber landscape and meet customers’ needs for an effective and simple solution that just works. But finding something that just works means something quite different...

Hyperlink auditing: where has my option to disable it gone?

There is a relatively old method that might be gaining traction to follow users around on the world wide web. Most Internet users are aware of the fact that they are being tracked in several ways. And awareness is a good start. In a state of awareness, you can adjust your behavior accordingly, an...

Ellen DeGeneres giveaway scam spreading on social media

Scammers are pushing multiple fake Facebook profiles of Ellen DeGeneres, popular US TV show host and producer, with the goal of tricking people into jumping through a few money-making hoops. This isn’t a sophisticated scam. It isn’t hacking the Gibson. It won’t be the focus of a cutting edge...

2018: The year of the data breach tsunami

It’s tough to remember all of the data breaches that happened in 2018. But when you look at the largest and most impactful ones that were reported throughout the year, it paints a grim picture about the state of data security today. The consequences of major companies leaking sensitive data are...

Are Deepfakes coming to a scam near you?

Your boss contacts you over Skype. You see her face and hear her voice, asking you to transfer a considerable amount of money to a firm you've never ever heard of. Would you ask for written confirmation of her orders? Or would you simply follow through on her instructions? I would certainly be...

Encryption 101: decryption tool code walkthrough

We have reached the final installment of our Encryption 101 series. In the prior post, we walked through, in detail, the thought process while looking at the Princess Locker ransomware. We talked about the specific ways to narrow down the analysis toward the encryption portions, the weaknesses in...

Critical OpenSSL fix due Nov 1—what you need to know

A fix for a critical issue in OpenSSL is on the way, announced in advance of its release on November 1, 2022, in a four hour window between 13:00 UTC and 17:00 UTC. The release, version 3.0.7, will address a critical vulnerability for all versions of the software starting with a 3. Versions...

PrestaShop warns of vulnerability: Update your stores now!

A vulnerability affecting open source e-commerce platform PrestaShop could spell trouble for servers running PrestaShop websites. The 15-year-old organisations platform is currently used by around 300,000 shops worldwide. The exploit is very dependent on specific versions in use, so one PrestaSho...

Nigerian Tesla: 419 scammer gone malware distributor unmasked

Agent Tesla is a well-known data stealer written in .NET that has been active since 2014 and is perhaps one of the most popular payloads observed in malspam campaigns. While looking for threats targeting Ukraine, we identified a group we call "Nigerian Tesla" that has been dabbling into phishing...

High school student rickrolls entire school district, and gets praised

A student at a high school in Cook County successfully hacked into the Internet-of-Things IoT devices of one of the largest school districts in Illinois, and gave everyone a surprise. Minh aka @WhiteHoodHacker on Twitter who attends Elk Grove—a name that curiously resembles the home town of...

What to do when you receive an extortion email

In the last few weeks, there has been an upswing in people receiving threatening, extortion email messages, demanding payment to avoid release of sensitive information. Most of the time, these emails are what we call "sextortion" emails, as they claim that malware on your computer has captured...

The global data privacy roadmap: a question of risk

For most American businesses, complying with US data privacy laws follows a somewhat linear, albeit lengthy, path. Set up a privacy policy, don’t lie to the consumer, and check the specific rules if you’re a health care provider, video streaming company, or kids’ app maker. For American businesse...

Can we trust our online project management tools?

How would you feel about sharing confidential information about your company on Twitter or Facebook? That doesn’t sound right, does it? So, in a corporate life where we keep our work calendars online, and where we work together on projects using online flow-planners and online project management...

Deepfakes FakeApp tool (briefly) includes cryptominer

A few weeks ago, we took a look at a forum dedicated to Deepfake clips where the site was pushing Coinhive mining scripts in the website's HTML code. As it turns out, there's been another mining blow-out in the form of one of the apps used to make the fakes. That's right—a tool designed to push...

Inside the Kronos malware – part 2

In the previous part of the Kronos analysis, we took a look at the installation process of Kronos and explained the technical details of the tricks that this malware uses in order to remain more stealthy. Now we will move on to look at the malicious actions that Kronos can perform. Analyzed sampl...

Adobe Coldfusion vulnerability used in attacks on government servers

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA put out a Cybersecurity Advisory CSA to alert government agencies about cybercriminals using a vulnerability in Adobe Coldfusion to gain initial access to servers. Adobe ColdFusion is a platform for building and deploying web and mobile...

Ransomware review: October 2023

This article is based on research by Marcelo Rivero, Malwarebytes' ransomware specialist, who monitors information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web sites. In this report, "known attacks" are those where the victim did not pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture of...

Microsoft gives Apple a migraine

On May 18, 2023, Apple published security content for macOS Ventura 13.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.6, and macOS Big Sur 11.7.7 that addressed a logic issue in libxpc. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE database lists publicly disclosed computer security flaws. The CVE we are going to discuss...

Threat spotlight: RobbinHood ransomware takes the driver’s seat

Despite their name, the RobbinHood cybercriminal gang is not stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Instead, these ransomware developers are more like big game hunters—attacking enterprise organizations and critical infrastructure and keeping all the spoils for themselves. In 2019, the...

A week in security (July 15 – 21)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we took an extensive look at Sodinokibi, one of the new ransomware strains found in the wild that many believe picked up where GandCrab left off. We also profiled Extenbro, a Trojan that protects adware; reported on the UK's new Facebook reporting tool, homed in on...

New research finds hospitals are easy targets for phishing attacks

New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston finds hospital employees are extremely vulnerable to phishing attacks. The study highlights just how effective phishing remains as a tactic—the need for defense against and awareness of email scams is more critical than ever. The research w...

A week in security (March 4 – 11)

Last week, Malwarebytes Labs released its in-depth, international data privacy survey of nearly 4,000 individuals, revealing that every generation, including Millennials, cares about online privacy. We also covered a novel case of zombie email that involved a very much alive account user, delved...

Major data breaches at Adidas, Ticketmaster pummel web users

There's been a number of data breaches and accidental data exposures coming to light in the last few days, and no matter where in the world you happen to be located, you'll want to do some due diligence and see if you've been affected. These aren't small fishes being preyed upon by black hats;...

The Internet of Everything and digital privacy: what you need to know

If you don’t already own Internet of Things IoT devices, you likely will soon. IoT-enabled devices are physical gadgets with built-in Internet connectivity that allow data transmission; often this happens in the background with no indication to the user that anything is happening. The IoT is more...

Fake Spectre and Meltdown patch pushes Smoke Loader malware

The Meltdown and Spectre bugs have generated a lot of media attention, and users have been urged to update their machines with fixes made available by various vendors. While some patches have created more issues than they fixed, we came across a particular one targeted at German users that actual...

Act now! In-the-wild Zimbra vulnerability needs a workaround

Security experts are warning Zimbra users that a vulnerability for which there is no patch is being actively exploited in the wild. In a security update about the vulnerability, the company offered a temporary workaround which users can apply while waiting for a patch to be created. Zimbra is an...

Reducing your attack surface is more effective than playing patch-a-mole

On June 13, 2023 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA issued Binding Operational Directive BOD 23-02. BOD 23-02 is titled Mitigating the Risk from Internet-Exposed Management Interfaces, and requires federal civilian agencies to remove specific networked management interfaces...

Rubrik is latest victim of the Clop ransomware zero-day campaign

Rubrik, a cybersecurity company specializing in cloud data management, has revealed that some of its systems were infiltrated by the Clop ransomware group. Rubrik is one of many companies attacked by Clop via an infamous zero-day vulnerability in the GoAnywhere file transfer software. The attack...

Beating security fatigue with Troy Hunt, Chloé Messdaghi, and Tanya Janca: Lock and Code S02E06

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs. In addition, we speak to Point3 Security chief strategist Chloé Messdaghi, HaveIBeenPwned founder Troy Hunt, and We Hack Purple founder and CEO Tanya Janca about security fatigue. Security fatigue is...

Hackers try to poison Florida City’s drinking water

The FBI, the Secret Service, and the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office are currently investigating an attempted poisoning of a city by an individual or group of hackers that occurred Friday last week. If it hadnt been caught in time, at least 15,000 people could have been affected. In a Monday pres...

How 5G could impact cybersecurity strategy

With the recent news that South Korea has rolled out the world’s first 5G network, it’s clear that we’re on the precipice of the wireless technology’s widespread launch. Offering speeds anywhere from 20 to 100 times faster than 4G long-term evolution LTE, the next generation of wireless networks...

A week in security (March 25 – 31)

Last week, we looked at plugin vulnerabilities, location tracking app problems, and talked about plain text password woes. We also looked at federal data privacy regulation and took a deep dive into BatMobi Adware. Other cybersecurity news Poisoned software update headache for ASUS Source: The...

The Advanced Persistent Threat files: Lazarus Group

We've heard a lot about Advanced Persistent Threats APTs over the past few years. As a refresher, APTs are prolonged, aimed attacks on specific targets with the intention to compromise their systems and gain information from or about that target. While the targets may be anyone or anything—a...