How World Cup crypto prediction sites take your money

Crypto prediction and betting sites are appearing around the World Cup, and researchers have already tracked scams aimed at fans, including fake ticketing, fixed-match betting, prediction scams, and fan-branded meme coins. We investigated one prediction site ourselves. While we aren't claiming...

Fake PayPal invoice from Geek Squad is a tech support scam

One of our employees received this suspicious email and showed it to me. Although it's a pretty straightforward attempt to lure targets into calling the scammers, it's worth writing up because it looks like it was sent out in bulk. Let's look at the red flags. Firstly, the sender address : PayPal...

LinkedIn will use your data to train its AI unless you opt out now

LinkedIn plans to share user data with Microsoft and its affiliates for AI training. Framed as "legitimate interest", it won't ask for your permission—instead you'll have to opt out before the deadline. Microsoft has made major investments in ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, and as we know, the more dat...

iPhone flaw could read your saved passwords out loud. Update now!

Apple has issued security updates for iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1 which includes a fix for a bug that could allow a user's saved passwords to be read aloud by its VoiceOver feature. VoiceOver allows users to use their iPhone or iPad even if they can't see the screen. It gives audible description...

ThemeBleed exploit is another reason to patch Windows quickly

Included in the September 2023 Patch Tuesday updates was a fix for a vulnerability which has been dubbed ThemeBleed. A Proof-of-Concept PoC exploit has been released by Gabe Kirkpatrick, one of the researchers acknowledged for reporting the vulnerability. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures...

Android 14 developer preview highlights multiple security improvements

Android developers have been given a taste of whats to come in the next big step up in mobile land, thanks to Android 14 waiting on the horizon. The developer preview is a great way for those most familiar with the mobile operating system to see which changes theyll enjoy and what ones theyll hav...

Ransomware protection with Malwarebytes EDR: Your FAQs, answered!

We get a few questions about ransomware protection and how our Endpoint Detection and Response software can protect you from ransomware. In this post, our security experts answer some of your most frequently asked questions about ransomware and how our EDR can help—let’s get started. Q: When...

The Wren Eleanor story: Why you should keep your kids’ images off social media

TikTok moms have started a movement: Calling out potential creeps who follow child influencer accounts on the platform. The latest account in the spotlight is @wren.eleanor, a TikTok account with a massive 17.3 million followers. Its an impressive number and one that got the attention of armchair...

Update now! Apple fixes actively exploited zero-day

Apple has released a security fix for a zero-day vulnerability CVE-2022-22620 that it says "may have been actively exploited." According to the security update information provided by Apple the vulnerability exists in WebKit—the HTML rendering engine component of its Safari browser—and can be use...

How to spot a DocuSign phish and what to do about it

Phishing scammers love well known brand names, because people trust them, and their email designs are easy to rip off. And the brands phishers like most are the ones youre expecting to hear from, or wouldnt be surprised to hear from, like Amazon or DHL. Now you can add DocuSign to that list...

Beware, crypto-scammer seeks foreigner with BLOCK CHAIN ACCOUNT

We’ve observed a 419-style scam also known as an advance fee scam which combines the promise of cryptocurrency riches with WhatsApp conversation. The mail, which arrived with the subject "Urgent respond", begins as follows: Greetings to you my friend, My name is Haifa Kalfan, I am the Store manag...

Brave takes aim at Google with privacy-first search engine

The privacy-forward web browser Brave launched its new search engine in beta on Wednesday, promising a more private experience that does not track user searches, build user profiles, or require the use of an external, pre-existing search index to deliver results. Clear from the company’s early...

Romance scams: FTC reveals $304 million of heartache

In 2020, reported losses to the FTC for romance scams went up by 50% from 2019, totalling $304 million. And things werent exactly good before: Romance scams have cost people a fortune for 3 years running, according to the FTC. Their latest report suggests a steady rise in these kind of scams...

The many ways you can be scammed on Facebook, part II

In part 1 of this article series, we looked at data mining schemes, scam ad campaigns, concert tickets scams, and PayPal fund transfer scams. Today, we continue to list down the other scams you might encounter on Facebook. Bitcoin trading scam Who would have thought that a "simple" phishing schem...

SolarWinds advanced cyberattack: What happened and what to do now

We learned more about the sophisticated attack first disclosed on December 8 when security firm FireEye reported it had been the victim of a state-sponsored adversary that stole Red Team assessment tools. On December 13 there was a new development when IT company SolarWinds announced it had been...

File-sharing and cloud storage sites: How safe are they?

There it is again—that annoying message that pops up when your email client informs you that a file is too big to attach. Those of us that are confronted with this problem on a regular basis—and those of us that want to attach files that could get picked up by anti-malware scanners along the...

Black Friday 2020: How to shop safely online

Black Friday 2020 promises to be somewhat different from years gone by thanks to COVID-19. The annual surge of in-store chaos and trolley dashes isn’t compatible with social distancing, and so retailers will be looking to drive shoppers online. Friday 27th November is when things kick off this...

Demystifying two common misconceptions with e-commerce security

Online shopping has seen a dramatic increase in the months following the Covid-19 outbreak as more and more people opt-out of visiting physical stores. Such a phenomenon does not go unnoticed or without additional consequences. During the same time period, we have seen an increase in the usual...

Lock and Code S1Ep16: Investigating digital vulnerabilities with Samy Kamkar

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 Samy Kamkar, chief security officer and co-founder of Open Path, about the digital vulnerabilities in our physical world. If you look through a recent...

ParetoLogic facing complaint of alleged wrongdoing

A short while ago we reported on the FTC ruling against payment provider RevenueWire. Now, another Canadian company is under scrutiny, and the cases are very much related. Not only are these companies hailing from the same city, they also share some founders. The company ParetoLogic is involved i...

Labs report finds cyberthreats against healthcare increasing while security circles the drain

The team at Malwarebytes Labs is at it again, this time with a special edition of our quarterly CTNT report—Cybercrime tactics and techniques: the 2019 state of healthcare. Over the last year, we gathered global data from our product telemetry, honeypots, threat intelligence, and research efforts...

DEF CON 27 retrospective: badge life redux

Kickstarter or DEF CON attendee? Be forewarned, this light overview contains some mild spoilers. If you want the purest “Da Bomb” experience with no web-based OSINT hints, read no further. I’m not revealing any earth-shattering secrets here, but figured it was worth mentioning. Also DEF CON is ov...

LoJack for computers used to attack European government bodies

Security researchers have detected the first known instance of a UEFI bootkit being used in targeted campaigns against government entities across Central and Eastern Europe. The attack focuses on UFEI-enabled computers and relies on a persistence mechanism that has been stolen from a legitimate,...

8 everyday technologies that can make you vulnerable to cyberattacks

The technological advances of the modern world make for an exciting and convenient lifestyle. With each new development, from artificial intelligence to the Internet of Things, we make the mundane and tedious more manageable. The security vulnerabilities of the latest tech have been well...

Block all or nothing to prevent ICO fraud?

At Malwarebytes, we feel we have reached a point where we need to ask our customers how to proceed on the subject of ICO scams. Asking for your opinion may seem strange to some of you, but Malwarebytes comes from a community of mutual help and trust. If you were unaware of this, reading how our C...

Five easy ways to recognize and dispose of malicious emails

I suppose we all get our share of spam. Some more than others. But how do we differentiate between simple commercial spam and the types of emails that want to get us in trouble? The unsolicited commercial spam email is generally easy to recognize, report, and discard, but what about more dangerou...

Two major Canadian banks blackmailed after alleged data breach

While the US was celebrating Memorial Day on Monday, Canada was dealing with an unusual data breach affecting two popular financial institutions: Simplii Financial and Bank of Montreal BMO. The CBC broke the story and updated it throughout the day to mention that some 90,000 customers were possib...

HTTPS: why the green padlock is not enough

When goods get sold in large quantities, the price goes down. This might not be the first law of economics, but it’s applicable. An extrapolation of this is that if there are practically no production costs and no raw materials involved, prices of such goods will drop to zero. Usually, they will ...

The data breach epidemic: no info is safe

By now it’s obvious that data security technology and protocols haven’t kept pace with the needs of consumers. Even as more people trust their most sensitive personal information to online apps and services, databases are routinely exposed. In 2017 alone, we learned about massive data breaches fr...

The state of Mac malware

Mac users are often told that they don't need antivirus software, because there are no Mac viruses. However, this is not true at all, as Macs actually are affected by malware, and have been for most of their existence. Even the first well-known virus—Elk Cloner—affected Apple computers rather tha...

A week in security (August 14 – August 20)

Last week, we gave some security tips for parents and kids aimed at the new school term. We also took a peek at the inside of the Kronos malware, focusing on how it works and protects itself. And, once again, we spotted a return of Locky ransomware with two new flavors at once, diablo6 and Lukitu...

Apple phish: Summary report statement

If the following message lands in your mailbox, you may wish to throw on your "This is highly suspicious" cap before proceeding further: The email is titled RE: Summary Report Statement login and update account 08/05/2017 Note the old spammer trick of placing "RE:" at the start to make you think...

WhatsApp hack: Meta wins payout over NSO Group spyware

Meta has won almost $170m in damages from Israel-based NSO Group, maker of the Pegasus spyware. The ruling comes after a six-year legal case against the company after Meta accused it of misusing its servers to spy on users. According to the original complaint against NSO Group, filed in October...

A week in security (June 24 – June 30)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: TEMU sued for being "dangerous malware" by Arkansas Attorney General Driving licences and other official documents leaked by authentication service used by Uber, TikTok, X, and more "Poseidon" Mac stealer distributed via Google ads Federal Reserve "breached" data m...

ThreatDown achieves perfect score in latest AVLab assessment

ThreatDown has once again earned a perfect score in AVLabs January 2024 real-world malware detection tests, marking the eleventh consecutive quarter in achieving this feat. Let’s delve into the details of the test and how ThreatDown outperformed competitors in exhaustive testing. The AVLab...

A week in security (August 21 - August 27)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Teenage members of Lapsus$ ransomware gang convicted Update now! Google Chrome's first weekly update has arrived Smart lightbulb and app vulnerability puts your Wi-Fi password at risk Malwarebytes acquires Cyrus Security Ivanti Sentry critical vulnerability--don't...

Update now! WinRAR files can be abused to run malware

A new version of the file archiving software WinRAR fixes two vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to execute code on a target system. All the victim has to do is to open a specially crafted archive. After receiving a report about the vulnerability in June, a new version of the software w...

Zoom clarifies user consent requirement when training its AI

Changes in the terms of service TOS of the Zoom video-conferencing software have caused some turmoil. Since the pandemic, Zoom Video Conferencing has become a household name. Zoom came up as the big winner in the video conferencing struggle that enabled us to work from home. Now that things are...

3 tips to raise your backup game

If there was an award for "most overlooked really important thing in computing", backups would win. Every year. So let's put that right and spend a minute or two thinking about backups. Backups are great! Having backups is like having a do-over for your mistakes, and who hasn't wished for that? A...

Smart home assistants at risk from "NUIT" ultrasound attack

A new form of attack named "Near Ultrasound Inaudible Trojan" NUIT has been unveiled by researchers from the University of Texas. NUIT is designed to attack voice assistants with malicious commands remotely via the internet. Impacted assistants include Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant...

Malwarebytes earns AV-TEST Top Product awards for fifth consecutive quarter

AV-TEST, a leading independent tester of cybersecurity solutions, has just ranked Malwarebytes as a Top Product for consumers and businesses for the fifth quarter in a row. Every two months, experts at AV-Test evaluate Windows antivirus software across three categories: Protection against malware...

“Orwellian in the extreme” food store installs facial recognition cameras to stop crime, faces backlash

A convenience shop chain is under fire and facing legal charges for installing cameras with facial recognition software in 35 of its branches across the UK. The cameras analyze and convert video face captures into biometric data. The data is compared with a database of people who have committed...

WhatsApp warns users: Fake versions of WhatsApp are trying to steal your personal info

WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart is warning users of the popular messaging app to be on their guard after the WhatsApp Security Team discovered bogus apps packing a hidden punch in the form of malware. Outside the safety of the walled garden App stores do whatever they can to try and prevent bogus...

Watch out for the email that says “You have a new voicemail!”

A phishing campaign is using voicemail notification messages to go after victims Office 365 credentials. According to researchers at ZScaler, the campaign uses spoofed emails with an HTML attachment that contains encoded javascript. The email claims that you have a new voicemail and that you can...

Xenomorph banking Trojan downloaded over 50,000 times from Play Store

Besides the name of the creature that “stars” in the Alien movies by 20th Century Fox, Xenomorph is also the name given to an Android banking Trojan. Researchers found this banking Trojan to be distributed on the official Google Play Store, with more than 50,000 installations. The researchers...

The Facebook Pixel Hunt aims to unravel Facebook’s tracking methods. Will you join?

Browser developer Mozilla has announced a research project to provide insights into, and data about, a space that’s opaque to policymakers, researchers and users themselves. Tracking the trackers is the name of the game. Give up some of your data voluntarily to stop the involuntary collection by...

Please don’t buy this! 3 gift card scams to watch out for this holiday season

With the holiday season around the corner, we thought it was a good time to look at the dangers that come with gift cards. Gift cards can be an easy win in cases where you don’t know the receiver well enough to decide on a fitting gift, or when their wishes are out of your price range. But there...

Microsoft makes a bold move towards a password-less future

In a recent blog Microsoft announced that as of September 15, 2021 you can completely remove the password from your Microsoft account and use the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key, or a verification code sent to your phone or email to sign in to Microsoft apps and service...

A week in security (July 19 – July 25)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Stopransomwaredotgov, a one-stop hub for ransomware resources Beware, crypto-scammer seeks foreigner with BLOCK CHAIN ACCOUNT Remcos RAT delivered via Visual Basic US, EU, UK, NATO blame China for “reckless” exchange attacks HiveNightmare zero-day lets anyone be...

ID theft ghouls targeting Surfside victims is appalling, but no surprise

We’ve written at length about account compromise and identity theft, and how criminals will often hijack accounts belonging to dead people. In many ways, it’s the perfect crime for anyone indulging in social engineering. The amount of abandoned accounts due to death can only ever go up, and nobod...