Police seize DoubleVPN data, servers, and domain

A coordinated effort between global law enforcement agencies—led by the Dutch National Police—shut down a VPN service that was advertised on cybercrime forums. The VPN company promised users the ability to double- and triple-encrypt their web traffic to obscure their location and identity. The...

Ransomware to be investigated like terrorism

The impact of recent ransomware attacks on vital infrastructure in the US has triggered a reaction from the US Attorney’s office. In an internal guidance it says that all ransomware investigations in the field should be centrally coordinated with a recently created task force in Washington...

Malwarebytes releases SMB Cybersecurity Trust & Confidence Report 2021

What can we say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? Beliefs were shaken. Values were questioned. Truths were tested. Then COVID happened and things really got crazy. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic on March 12, 2020. That same day...

Cryptomining containers caught coining cryptocurrency covertly

In traditional software development, programmers code an application in one computing environment before deploying it to a similar, but often slightly different environment. This leads to bugs or errors that only show up when the software is deployed—exactly when you need them least. To solve for...

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...

$12m Grindr fine shows GDPR’s got teeth

As thoughts turn to Data Privacy this week in a big way, GDPR illustrates it isnt an afterthought. Grindr, the popular social network and dating platform, will likely suffer a $12 million USD fine due to privacy related complaints. What happened here, and what are the implications for future case...

Are TikTok’s new settings enough to keep kids safe?

TikTok, the now widely popular social media platform that allows users to create, share, and discover, amateur short clips—usually something akin to music videos—has been enjoying explosive growth since it appeared in 2017. Since then, it hasn’t stopped growing—more so during the current pandemic...

Keeping ransomware cash away from your business

A ransomware gang has made headlines for donating a big chunk of stolen funds to two charities. Two separate donations given to Children International and The Water Project rang tills to the tune of $10,000 each. Their reason was that they’re targeting “only large profitable corporations, we thin...

Bluetooth beacons: one free privacy debate with your next order

Apps and their permissions have been in the news recently, particularly in relation to tracking/privacy issues and Bluetooth. Why Bluetooth, though? What is it, and what is it doing to raise concerns in some security quarters? Bluetooth: your cool, then uncool, but mostly cool again cousin...

Cybersecurity and the economy: when recession strikes

Cybercrime and the economy have always been intertwined, but with COVID-19 on the road to causing a seemingly inevitable global recession, many are asking what, exactly, will the impact be on cybercrime. Will criminals step up and increase malware production, ramp up phishing attacks, do whatever...

VPNs are mainstream, which is good news

Virtual private networks VPNs have been growing in popularity for the last three years, a notable trend revealed in a collaborative report PDF by Top10VPN and GlobalWebIndex. This year is no different. When a majority of the world’s internet users are in isolation due to the COVID-19 global...

A week in security (April 13 – 19)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at how to avoid Zoom bombing, weighed the risks of surveillance versus pandemics, and dug into a spot of WiFi credential theft. Other cybersecurity news: Malware creeps back into the home: With a pandemic forcing much of the workforce into remote position...

Explained: juice jacking

When your battery is dying and you're nowhere near a power outlet, would you connect your phone to any old USB port? Joyce did, and her mobile phone got infected. How? Through a type of cyberattack called "juice jacking." Don’t be like Joyce. Although Joyce and her infected phone are hypothetical...

Disney+ security and service issues: Here’s what we know so far

The long wait is over. Disney+, the new video-streaming service to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime, debuted last week to much fanfare, racking up 10 million subscribers within a single day of launch. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of splash the majority of users predicted, as they were met with...

A week in security (September 23 – 29)

Last week on Labs, we highlighted an Emotet campaign using Snowden’s new book as a lure, discussed how 15,000 webcams are vulnerable to attack, how insurance data security laws skirt political turmoil, and how the new iOS exploit checkm8 allows permanent compromise of iPhones. Other cybersecurity...

A week in security (August 5 – 11)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we explained how brain-machine interface BMI technology could usher in a world of Internet of Thoughts, why having backdoors is problematic, and how we can improve the security of our smart homes. To cap off Hacker Summer Camp week, the Labs team released a special...

8 ways to improve security on smart home devices

Every so often, a news story breaks that hackers have made their way into a smart home device and stolen personal data. Or that vulnerabilities in smart tech have been discovered that allow their producers or other cybercriminals to spy on customers. We've seen it play out over and over with smar...

Everything you need to know about ATM attacks and fraud: part 2

This is the second and final installment of our two-part series on automated teller machine ATM attacks and fraud. In part 1, we identified the reasons why ATMs are vulnerable—from inherent weaknesses of its frame to its software—and delved deep into two of the four kinds of attacks against them:...

Your device, your choice: AdwCleaner now detects preinstalled software

For years, Malwarebytes has held firm to a core belief about you, the user: You should be able to decide for yourself which apps, programs, browsers, and other software end up on your computer, tablet, or mobile phone. Basically, it’s your device, your choice. With the latest update to Malwarebyt...

Data scraping treasure trove found in the wild

We bring word of yet more data exposure, in the form of “nonsensitive” data scraping to the tune of 66m records across 3 large databases. The information was apparently scraped from various sources and left to gather dust, for anyone lucky enough to stumble upon it. What is data scraping? The...

How to secure your content management system

Suppose you want to start your own blog or set up a website where you can easily manage its content, the way it looks, and how often it changes. What you need is a content management system CMS. WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are some of the most popular content management systems used by both...

Red Hen website suffers SEO spam compromise

If you're thinking about checking out the website owned by the restaurant that asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave the premises, you might want to hold off. There's some site compromise action afoot. Although the homepage appears to be acting in a perfectly normal...

A week in security (April 16 – April 22)

Last week, we took a stroll down memory lane talking about Facebook and MySpace, noticed a change in the Magnitude exploit kit—wherein it started adopting the GandCrab ransomware, took a good look at a new form of adware that is based on Python, chatted a bit about Russian hacking with a...

Physician, protect thyself: healthcare cybersecurity circling the drain

No one knows you better than you do. But thanks to technology advances and the continued digitization of healthcare data accumulation and sharing processes, we can also honestly say the same about your healthcare provider. Indeed, every time we get in touch with a health professional, data is...

A week in security (January 22 – January 28)

Last week on Labs, we analyzed a rogue app outbreak on Twitter, took a look at how Singapore's government is faring with network defense, and rolled out our 2017 State of Malware report. We also became visionaries in Gartner's Magic Quadrant report and explored a VR data mishap. Other news Man...

Solution Corner: Malwarebytes for Android

People have become increasingly reliant on their mobile devices in recent years. Smartphones and tablets have revolutionized daily life. Unfortunately, such rapid growth has also attracted criminals, bringing Android up to par with Windows in terms of infection rates. Android threat landscape A...

Learning PowerShell: The basics

I bet I went about learning PowerShell the wrong way, so I may need your help, readers of this blog. If only to organize my knowledge and use it for the fight against malware and not just to figure out how it was used in malware. The first serious look I had at PowerShell was when I was trying to...

Parents take on Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snap in 3,000 youth safety lawsuits

A group of big tech firms is fighting to stop roughly 3,000 youth safety lawsuits from moving forward, and they just lost a critical procedural battle in court. The lawsuits, brought by attorneys general and families, allege that Meta, Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap knew their products were...

Meta ordered to pay $942 million over harm to children

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay a total of $942 million after finding that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users and that the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms. Reportedly, the decision combines a $375 million civil-penalty verdict from March with a newly...

Aftercall ads are driving Android users crazy

Aftercall is a wave of deceptive Android apps on Google Play that pose as everyday tools while bombarding users with pop-up ads after every phone call. When an unexpected ad pops up every time you hang up a call, it will slowly drive you crazy, especially if you can’t figure out what's causing it...

Fake CleanMyMac site installs SHub Stealer and backdoors crypto wallets

A convincing fake version of the popular Mac utility CleanMyMac is tricking users into installing malware. The site instructs visitors to paste a command into Terminal. If they do, it installs SHub Stealer, macOS malware designed to steal sensitive data including saved passwords, browser data,...

Update your iPhone, Mac, Watch: Apple issues patches for several vulnerabilities

Apple has released security patches for most of its operating systems, including iOS, Mac, iPadOS and watchOS. Especially important are the updates for iOS and iPadOS which tackle vulnerabilities which could potentially leak sensitive user information. You should make sure you update as soon as y...

[updated] Atlassian: “Take immediate action” to patch your Confluence Data Center and Server instances

Atlassian has released an advisory about a critical severity authentication vulnerability in the Confluence Server and Data Center. All versions of Confluence Data Center and Server are affected by this unexploited vulnerability. Atlassian Cloud sites are not impacted by this vulnerability, so if...

Update now! Google Chrome's first weekly update has arrived

Google has published details about the first weekly update for the Chrome browser. Recently Google announced that it would start shipping weekly security updates for the Stable channel the version most of us use. Regular Chrome releases will still come every four weeks, but to get security fixes...

Update Chrome now! Google patches actively exploited flaw

In a recent security advisory, Google says it patched a high-severity zero-day security flaw in its Chrome browser--the first in 2023--currently being exploited in the wild by threat actors. The company urges all its Windows, Mac, and Linux users to update to version 112.0.5615.121 immediately, a...

Consumer privacy and social media

Looking at the privacy related stories of 2022, its not hard to see that much of the focus was on the social media giants. Banning TikTok is slowly becoming a trend among US states. Google and Facebooks owner Meta was fined on several occasions for amounts that would have put other companies out ...

Firefox, Thunderbird, receive patches for critical security issues

Mozilla has published updates for two critical security issues in Firefox and Thunderbird, demonstrated during Pwn2Own Vancouver. The vulnerabilities, discovered in the Firefox JavaScript engine shared by the Firefox-based Tor browser relate to Firefox 100.0.2, Firefox for Android 100.3.0, and...

Gh0stCringe RAT makes database servers squeal for protection

Researchers have found that the Gh0stCringe RAT is infecting Microsoft SQL and MySQL, and seems to focus on servers with weak protection. The Gh0stCringe RAT communicates with a command and control C&C server to receive instructions and is capable of exfiltrating information. SQL SQL is short for...

HermeticWiper: A detailed analysis of the destructive malware that targeted Ukraine

This blog post was authored by Hasherezade, Ankur Saini and Roberto Santos Disk wipers are one particular type of malware often used against Ukraine. The implementation and quality of those wipers vary, and may suggest different hired developers. The day before the invasion on Ukraine by Russian...

Firefox reveals sponsored ad “suggestions” in search and address bar

Mozilla is trying a novel experiment into striking a balance between ad revenue generation and privacy protection by implementing a new way to deliver ads in its Firefox web browser—presenting them as “suggestions” whenever users type into the dual-use search and URL address bar. The advertising...

A week in security (June 7 – June 13)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Amazon SIdewalk starts sharing your WiFi data tomorrow, thanks White hat, black hat, grey hat hackers: what’s the difference? Can two VPN “wrongs” make a right? Lock and Code S02E10 DOJ recovers pipeline ransom, signals more aggressive approach to cybercrime 800...

Can two VPN “wrongs” make a right? Lock and Code S02E10

This week on Lock and Code, were presenting you something a little different. Were telling you a story—with no guest interview included—that involves the use of VPNs. In 2016, a mid-20s man began an intense, prolonged harassment campaign against his new roommate. He emailed her from spoofed email...

Malicious commits found in PHP code repository: What you need to know

You’ve probably heard that PHP’s Git repository was recently compromised, allowing backdoors to be added to the code located there. You may also be wondering what that means, what a supply chain attack is, and how you could be affected. Read on and well lead you though a straightforward descripti...

Android devices caught in Matryosh botnet

Researchers at Netlab have discovered a new botnet that re-uses the Mirai framework to pull vulnerable Android devices into DDoS attacks. The new botnet, which is called Matryosh, is named after the Russian nesting dolls because the encryption algorithm it uses, and the process of obtaining comma...

What’s up with WhatsApp’s privacy policy?

WhatsApp has been in the news recently after changes to its privacy policy caused a surge of interest in rival messaging app Signal. Initial reports may have worried a lot of folks, leading to inevitable clarifications and corrections. But what, you may ask, actually happened? Is there a problem?...

International Women’s Day: awareness of stalkerware, monitoring, and spyware apps on the rise

Nine months ago, Malwarbytes recommitted itself to detecting invasive monitoring apps that can lead to the excessive harm of women—most commonly known as stalkerware. We pledged to raise public awareness, reach out to advocacy groups, and share samples and intelligence with other security vendors...

Are our police forces equipped to deal with modern cybercrimes?

“You should have asked for the presence of a digital detective,” Karen said when I told her what happened at the police station. I had accompanied a neighbor, who is a small business owner, that had been hit with ransomware and wanted to file a report. After listening to his story, the police...

Washington Privacy Act welcomed by corporate and nonprofit actors

The steady parade of US data privacy legislation continued last month in Washington with the introduction of an improved bill that would grant state residents the rights to access, control, delete, and port their data, as well as opting out of data sales. The bill, called the Washington Privacy...

Explained: What is containerization?

Containerization. Another one of those tech buzzwords folks love to say but often have no idea what it means. A better way to organize children's toys? The act of bringing tupperware out to dinner to safely transport home leftovers? Another name for Russian dolls? Containerization is, of course,...

Cyber insurance: here to stay, whether we like it or not

Cyber insurance has been a big talking point in infosec circles for many months now. We’ve mentioned it in passing ourselves a few times, usually in relation to ransomware attacks. This isn’t surprising; ransomware may not be the threat that brought cyber insurance to life, but it absolutely help...