A week in security (September 16 -22)

Last week on Labs, we sounded the alarm about the relaunch of Emotet, one of the year's most dangerous forms of malware, with a new spam campaign. We also reported on how international students in UK are targeted by visa scammers, what CEOs think about a potential US data privacy law, and...

A week in security (July 8 – 14)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at ways to send your sensitive information in a secure fashion, examined some tactics in incident response land, and explored federal data privacy law. We also looked at how security tools can turn against you, and took a deep dive into the rather fiendis...

Wall Street Market reported to have exit scammed

Around April 20, many users reported that Wall Street Market, a broadly known dark net market, had executed an exit scam, and that any pending orders were unlikely to be completed. Scamming with enterprises involving Bitcoin is not unheard of, and dark net markets with centralized escrow are...

A week in security (August 13 – August 19)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we talked about how Process Doppelgänging meets Process Hollowing in the Osiris dropper, provided hints, tips, and links for a safer school year, gave a recap of Black Hat USA 2018, offered some tips for a secure content management system, highlighted a silly...

Fake Fortnite for Android links found on YouTube

The extremely popular video game Fortnite is coming to Android sometime this summer, and the fanbase is going wild. Not surprisingly, mobile malware developers are taking advantage. Already, there are several videos on YouTube with links claiming to be versions of Fortnite for Android, despite th...

A week in security (April 02 – April 08)

Last week, we took a look at fake Whatsapp antics, dubious gaming extensions, and a huge Panera bread breach. There was also LockCrypt ransomware to contend with, we had a poke around Linkedin, and we published another Physician, protect thyself blog. Other news Compromised cash register systems...

Exosrv.com, an ad server for adult sites, tops Malwarebytes detections

Update 12/18/2017: Upon review, we have decided to lift the block on those two ad servers. You can read ExoClick's comments below: At Exoclick we use large resources to ensure that the ads that we serve are clear, clean and issue free. Where malwares and other forms of malvertising are detected...

Text messages and the Bitcoin Code: follow the money trail

I was a bit surprised to receive lots of messages similar to the one below this past week: I mean, we've all done it—managed a bulk text spam campaign offering free Bitcoins in your spare time, while completely forgetting said business exists. Maybe I did it in my sleep? It's all gone a bit Fight...

Roundup: your malware infection stories

You hear the cautionary tales all the time. So-and-so didn’t have an antivirus in place and was infected with malware. Such-and-such business had limited cybersecurity infrastructure and was hit with a ransomware attack. You think: Sure, but it probably won’t happen to me. I’m a safe surfer. I’ve...

TheTruthSpy stalkerware, still insecure, still leaking data

In 2022, we published an article about how photographs of children taken by a stalkerware-type app were found exposed on the internet because of poor cybersecurity practices by the app vendor. The stalkerware-type app involved, TheTruthSpy, has shown once again that the way in which it handles...

Microsoft patches 34 vulnerabilities, including one zero-day

December’s Patch Tuesday is a relatively quiet one on the Microsoft front. Redmond has patched 34 vulnerabilities with only four rated as critical. One vulnerability, a previously disclosed unpatched vulnerability in AMD central processing units CPUs, was shifted by AMD to software developers. Th...

Update now! Apple fixes several serious vulnerabilities

Apple has released security updates for several products to address several serious vulnerabilities including some actively exploited zero-days. Updates are available for these products: Safari 16.6 | macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey ---|--- iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 | iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro...

Update your PaperCut application servers now: Exploits in the wild

PaperCut, maker of print management solutions, has urged product users to update as soon as possible. A security vulnerability which exploits unpatched servers has been seen in the wild, with serious ramifications for any organisation impacted. Two specific vulnerabilities are at the heart of thi...

DoppelPaymer ransomware group disrupted

Europol has announced it has arrested two suspected core members of the DoppelPaymer ransomware group. On 28 February, the German Regional Police and the Ukrainian National Police, with support from Europol, the Dutch Police, and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations FBI, apprehended...

Actively exploited vulnerability in Bitbucket Server and Data Center

On September 29, 2022 the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency CISA added three vulnerabilities to the catalog of known to be exploited vulnerabilities. One of them is a vulnerability in Atlassians Bitbucket Server and Data Center. The other two are the Exchange Server zero-day...

Update now! GitLab issues critical security release for RCE vulnerability

GitLab has released versions 15.3.1, 15.2.3, 15.1.5 for GitLab Community Edition CE and Enterprise Edition EE. These versions contain important security fixes, and its recommended that all GitLab installations be upgraded to one of these versions immediately. GitLab.com is already running the...

Why data protection and privacy are not the same, and why that matters: Lock and Code S03E09

Theres a mistake commonly made in the United States that a law that was passed to help people move their healthcare information to a new doctor or provider was actually passed to originally implement universal, wide-ranging privacy controls on that same type of information. This is the mixup with...

North Korean hackers charged with $1.3 billion of cyberheists

The US Department of Justice recently unsealed indictments detailing North Koreas involvement in several global cyberattack campaigns against institutions in the financial and entertainment sectors, and money laundering schemes in certain US states. The first unsealed indictment is for hacking...

Gang arrested for SIM-swapping celebrities, stealing $100 million

The UKs National Crime Agency NCA—working alongside the US Secret Service, Homeland Security, the FBI, Europol, and the District Attorneys Office of Santa Clara California—spearheaded the arrest of eight British citizens in the UK and Scotland, aged between 18 to 26, for a string of SIM swapping...

There’s an app for that: web skimmers found on PaaS Heroku

Criminals love to abuse legitimate services—especially platform-as-a-service Paas cloud providers—as they are a popular and reliable hosting commodity used to support both business and consumer ventures. Case in point, in April 2019 we documented a web skimmer served on code repository GitHub...

Web skimmer phishes credit card data via rogue payment service platform

Heading into the holiday shopping season, we have been tracking increased activity from a threat group registering domains for skimming and phishing campaigns. While most of the campaigns implemented a web skimmer in the typical fashion—grabbing and exfiltrating data from a merchant's checkout pa...

Cybersecurity pros think the enemy is winning

There is a saying in security that the bad guys are always one step ahead of defense. Two new sets of research reveal that the constant cat-and-mouse game is wearing on security professionals, and many feel they are losing in the war against cybercriminals. The first figures are from the...

Removing the jam in your printer security

Printers are an important, invisible—albeit sometimes loud—component of the office. But all too often they’re filled with mystery meat icons, peculiar blinking lights, or error messages with no instruction manual to hand. No problem, you can just print at the next station! Wrong. Printers also...

Information operations on Twitter: new data released on election tampering

Back in April, we talked about the wealth of options available to Russian hackers and others launching social engineering campaigns, whether on social networks or through clever attacks launched via Advanced Persistent Threats. Some of that was information published by Twitter at the time in...

A week in security (August 6 – August 12)

Last week, we published a review of exploit kits, talked about everyday tech that can give you a headache, and showed how to protect RDP access from ransomware. We also published a study on the true cost of cybercrime. Other news: Discovered at Black Hat: WhatsApp "message manipulation" Source: T...

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...

IoT domestic abuse: What can we do to stop it?

Some 40 years ago, the sci-fi/horror film Demon Seed told the tale of a woman slowly imprisoned by a sentient AI, which invaded the smart home system her husband had designed to manage it. The AI locked doors, windows, turned off communications, and even put a synthesised version of her onscreen ...

So you’ve been asked to start a threat intel program

Ever since the Mandiant APT1 report landed like a bomb in private sector security reporting, threat intelligence has been a hot buzzword many companies have been chasing over. But what is threat intelligence? What do you need to execute it well? And how many new tools do you need to buy? The...

A week in security (June 4 – June 10)

Last week on Labs, we took a look at hidden mobile ads, the perils of social media spam, and how to shore up your landline defenses. We also took a deep dive into Emotet malware analysis, and gave you some summertime safety tips. Other news Update your Adobe Flash player if you haven't already...

Tips for safe summer travels: your cybersecurity checklist

Summer is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes vacation plans for many. Those looking to take some time away from work and home are likely making plans to secure their home, have their pets taken care of, and tie up loose ends at work. But how about securing your...

Social media: A treasure trove of spam and scams

There are two kinds of spam associated with social media. There are spam ads that actually live on social media, and there is spam that comes in your inbox, courtesy of social media. Both thrive by using data from your social media accounts. But how do spammers know how to target you and send you...

A conversation with America Geeks

Thanks to NeeP for contributing significant research. You can check out NeeP's YouTube channel here. Malwarebytes has written quite a bit about tech support scammers, typically focusing on new scam techniques as they arise with new threat actor groups. But sometimes our research discovers scammer...

Stop telephoning me-eh-eh-eh-eh: robocalls explained

If you've ever answered a call from anyone outside your contact list only to hear a recorded message playing back at you, you have just been robocalled. Unfortunately for American consumers, this happens several times a day, seven days a week. Suffice to say, this is beyond annoying—and it's...

When cybersecurity isn’t all cyber: What does it really take to work in cybersecurity?

With the multitude of breaches and outbreaks already witnessed in 2017, it's become clear that industries across all verticals are challenged by cybersecurity. This is a serious business problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. As much talk as there is about organizations getting hacked, scores o...

419 spam: 10 million US dollars, courtesy of “Rev. Goodluck Ebola”

I'm not saying an email claiming to be from the "Central Bank of Nigeria" with a contact handler named "Rev. Goodluck Ebola" will raise too many red flags, but… Click to Enlarge CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR Zaria Street, Off Samuel Akintola Street,Garki 11, Garki-Abuja. Our Ref:...

Report: Second quarter dominated by ransomware outbreaks

The second quarter of 2017 brought ransomware to unprecedented levels with worldwide outbreaks that went almost out of control. In scenarios reminiscent of yesteryears worms, WannaCry created global panic as it used a critical vulnerability in the SMBv1 protocol to propagate like wildfire. Within...

Tor Browser and Firefox users should update to fix actively exploited vulnerability

Mozilla has announced a security fix for its Firefox browser which also impacts the closely related Tor Browser. The new version fixes one critical security vulnerability which is reportedly under active exploitation. To address the flaw, both Mozilla and Tor recommend that users update their...

Trusted Advisor now available for Mac, iOS, and Android

First released for Windows last year, the Malwarebytes Trusted Advisor dashboard is also now available on Mac, iOS and Android. Our Trusted Advisor dashboard provides an easy-to-understand assessment of your device’s security, with a single comprehensive protection score, and clear, expert-driven...

Patch now! September Microsoft Patch Tuesday includes two actively exploited zero-days

Microsoft's September 2023 Patch Tuesday is another important one. Not because it's a busy one, but because we have some special cases. Patch Tuesday includes security updates for 59 bugs, two of which are known to be actively exploited. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has...

Patch now! Citrix Sharefile joins the list of actively exploited file sharing software

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has added a vulnerability to its catalog of know exploited vulnerabilities, based on evidence of active exploitation. This means that Federal Civilian Executive Branch FCEB agencies need to remediate this vulnerability by September 6, 2023...

Ivanti patches second zero-day vulnerability being used in attacks

Ivanti has issued a patch to address a second critical zero-day vulnerability that is under active attack. The vulnerability is said to be used in combination with the first vulnerability we discussed some days ago. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has added the new...

Sponsored Twitter post uses fake BBC News site to boost slippery oil trading app

A sponsored post on Twitter promises to offer the benefits of obtaining citizenship, but really just wants to lure you into some form of Forex trading AI scheme. This tangled web also includes faked BBC web pages and suspicious-looking website reviews to round the whole thing off. Shall we take a...

Business Services industry targeted across the country for backdoor access

The presence of so many hacking tools in the detections for the Business Services industry tells a story about these organizations being targeted for not only infection, but to establish backdoors and likely gain access to customers of the organizations through the victims network. Just like...

Google ads lead to major malvertising campaign

Fraudsters have long been leveraging the shady corners of the internet to place malicious adverts, leading users to various scams. However, every now and again we see a campaign that goes mainstream and targets some of the worlds top brands. Case in point, we recently uncovered a malvertising cha...

Extortionists target restaurants, demand money to take down bad reviews

Restaurants and other eating establishments are being targeted by extortionists who post fake reviews online and then offer to remove them in exchange for a gift card. The possibility has always existed to leave poor reviews on Google Maps and elsewhere. However, seeing fraudsters get organised a...

Escobar is the new Android banking Trojan we’ve met before

Aberebot, a known Android banking Trojan, has changed its name and returned loaded with new features. First spotted by @MalwareHunterTeam in early March, this mobile variant was renamed "Escobar"—a homage to the Colombian drug baron—and disguised itself as a McAfee app. It went by the package nam...

A week in security (June 28 – July 4)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Is it Game Over for VR Advergaming? Lil’ skimmer, the Magecart impersonator What is the WireGuard VPN protocol? Binance receives the ban hammer from UK’s FCA Fired by algorithm: The future’s here and it’s a robot wearing a white collar Second colossal Linkedin...

Microsoft exec reveals “routine” secrecy orders from government investigators

Microsoft executive Tom Burt told Congressional lawmakers Wednesday that Federal law enforcement agencies send “routine” secret orders for customer information from the Seattle-based company, numbering anywhere from 2,400 to 3,500 such requests a year. “While the recent news about secret...

How a Resident Evil image leaked in a ransomware attack ended up in the middle of $12m copyright claim

Back in November, gaming giant Capcom suffered a ransomware attack. In its press notification, it mentioned the various types of data potentially grabbed by their attackers. Things took an ominous turn when they refused to pay the ransom, and the group behind the attack said that was the wrong...

A week in security (January 11 – January 17)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at IoT problems, Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday, and how cybercriminals want access to your cloud services. We also explored how VPNs can protect your privacy, and asked if MSPs have picked the right PSA. Other cybersecurity news Hot phishing targets: Some...