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...

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...

Update now! Netgear vulnerability patched

Netgear has released a fix for a vulnerability on several of their product models. The affected product models include extenders, routers, air cards, and modems. The vulnerability was discovered by researchers at GRIMM, but prior to the planned disclosure date, Netgear released a patch that fixed...

Credit card skimmer targets ASP.NET sites

Update: 2020-07-09 A reader contacted us with information about this series of attacks on .NET sites. There is a known vulnerability CVE-2017-9248 for Telerik UI for ASP.NET that is being exploited. An attacker can upload .aspx web shells and get remote code execution. This Telerik page offers...

Leaks and breaches: a roundup

It’s time for one of our semi-regular breach/data exposure roundup blogs, as the last few days have brought us a few monsters. If you use any of the below sites, or if you think some of your data has been sitting around exposed, we’ll hopefully give you a better idea of what the issue is. Seeing ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Citrix Bleed widely exploited, warn government agencies

In a joint cybersecurity advisory, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, along with other international agencies, warn that ransomware gangs are actively exploiting the Citrix Bleed vulnerability. Affiliates of at least two ransomwa...

Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability exploited in the wild

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has added a critical Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. This means that Federal Civilian Executive Branch FCEB agencies need to remediate this...

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...

Capcom Arcade Stadium’s record player numbers blamed on card mining

Some of my favourite retro video games are making waves on Steam, but not in the way you might think. Classics such as Strider, Ghosts n’ Goblins, and more are all available as content for Capcom Arcade Stadium. This is an emulator which lets you play 31 arcade games from the 80s/90s. The games...

The slow trend away from facial recognition technology

It’s been a busy few weeks for facial recognition technology. Its oft-maligned abilities frequently wind up in tales of privacy invasion, or false positives, or dubious data retention. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see big organisations backing away from how they expect to use it, or indeed deplo...

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...

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...

Not us, YOU: vendor email compromise explained

Silent Starling, an online organized criminal group hailing from West Africa, seem to have reminded SMBs and enterprises alike the perils of business email compromise BEC scams once more. This time, they've advanced BEC into a more potent modality by widening the scope of its potential targets an...

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...

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;...

Keychain vulnerability in macOS

On Monday, Patrick Wardle, a respected security researcher at Synack and owner of Objective-See, sent a tweet about a keychain vulnerability he had found in macOS High Sierra. As his tweet showed, it is possible for a malicious app to extract, and then exfiltrate, keychain data from High Sierra,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

A week in security (May 20 – 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we took a look at a skimmer pretending to be a payment service provider, gave an overview of what riskware is, took a deep dive into concerns about PACS leaks, and dug around in the land of “These Governments said fix it…hurry up”. Other cybersecurity news Changes...

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...

The not-so-definitive guide to cybersecurity and data privacy laws

US cybersecurity and data privacy laws are, to put it lightly, a mess. Years of piecemeal legislation, Supreme Court decisions, and government surveillance crises, along with repeated corporate failures to protect user data, have created a legal landscape that is, for the American public and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Patch Ivanti Standalone Sentry and Ivanti Neurons for ITSM now

Ivanti has issued patches for two vulnerabilities. One was discovered in the Ivanti Standalone Sentry, which impacts all supported versions 9.17.0, 9.18.0, and 9.19.0. Older versions are also at risk. The other vulnerability impacts all supported versions of Ivanti Neurons for ITSM—2023.3, 2023.2...

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...

Super FabriXss: an RCE vulnerability in Azure Service Fabric Explorer

Researchers at Orca Security disclosed how they found a remote code execution vulnerability in Azure Service Fabric Explorer. The vulnerability was reported to the Microsoft Security Response Center MSRC with responsible disclosure and was included by Microsoft in their March 2023 Patch Tuesday...

Rackspace confirms it suffered a ransomware attack

It's not been a great week for cloud computing service provider Rackspace. On December 2, customers began experiencing problems connecting and logging into their Exchange environments. Rackspace started investigating and discovered an issue that affected its Hosted Exchange environments. Now...

Mac users, update now! “Powerdir” flaw could allow attackers to spy on you

If you have been forgoing updating your Mac, this article might make you think twice. The Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team has discovered a vulnerability in macOS, which allows malicious apps to successfully bypass a users privacy preferences. This means attackers could access personal data...

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...

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...

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...

Everything you need to know about ATM attacks and fraud: Part 1

Flashback to two years ago. At exactly 12:33 a.m., a solitary ATM somewhere in Taichung City, Taiwan, spewed out 90,000 TWD New Taiwan Dollar—about US$2,900 today—in bank notes. No one was cashing out money from the ATM at the time. In fact, this seemingly odd system glitch was actually a test: T...

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...

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...

Mozilla launches Firefox Send for private file sharing

Mozilla look to reclaim some ground from the all-powerful Chrome with a new way to send and receive files securely from inside the browser. Firefox Send first emerged in 2017, promising an easy way to send documents without fuss. The training wheels have now come off and Send is ready to go...

Mac malware intercepts encrypted web traffic for ad injection

Last week, Malwarebytes researcher Adam Thomas found an interesting new piece of Mac malware that exhibits some troubling behaviors, including intercepting encrypted web traffic to inject ads. Let's take a closer look at this adware, which Malwarebytes for Mac detects as OSX.SearchAwesome, to see...

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...

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...