Slack hurries to fix direct message flaw that allowed harassment

The enormous work messaging platform Slack quickly reversed course yesterday, promising to revise a brand-new direct message feature that could have been misused for harassment. Added to the company’s “Slack Connect” product—which lets enterprise users share messages with contract workers and...

NFTs explained: daylight robbery on the blockchain

Did you hear about the JPG file that sold for $69 million? I’ll give you some more detail, the JPG file is a piece of digital art made by Mike Winkelmann, the artist known as Beeple. The file was sold on Thursday by Christie’s in an online auction for $69.3 million. This set a record for artwork...

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...

A week in security (February 1 – February 7)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we dug into a load of security events. We first peered into how Fonix ransomware was giving up the ghost, swearing off a life of crime and even apologizing for past actions. We looked at a credit card skimmer that found opportunity in the latest Magento 1 hacking...

A week in security (January 4 – January 10)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we released survey results about VPN usage and found that 36 percent of our respondents use it. We also talked about Adobe Flash Player reaching its end of life—meaning, Adobe wont be supporting the updating and patching of its Flash Player software; covered the...

VideoBytes: Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports

Hello Folks! In this Videobyte, we’re talking about why brute force attacks are increasing and why that is a problem for everyone. The number of RDP ports exposed to the Internet grew from about three million in January 2020 to over four and a half million in March. The reason for this increase i...

Malsmoke operators abandon exploit kits in favor of social engineering scheme

Exploit kits continue to be used as a malware delivery platform. In 2020, weve observed a number of different malvertising campaigns leading to RIG, Fallout, Spelevo and Purple Fox, among others. And, in September, we put out a blog post detailing a surge in malvertising via adult websites. One o...

A week in security (September 28 – October 4)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we dug into what happens when card fraud comes calling, we gave a rundown on some novel ransomware attacks that took advantage of smart coffee makers, and we introduced VideoBytes, our new, monthly series in which well provide video coverage of some of the...

‘Just tell me how to fix my computer:’ a crash course on malware detection

Malware. You’ve heard the term before, and you know it’s bad for your computer—like a computer virus. Which begs the question: Do the terms “malware” and “computer virus” mean the same thing? How do you know if your computer is infected with malware? Is "malware detection" just a fancy phrase for...

Sodinokibi drops greatest hits collection, and crime is the secret ingredient

When a group of celebrities ask to speak with their lawyer, they usually don’t have to call in a bunch of other people to go speak with their lawyer. However, in this case it may well be a thing a little down the line. A huge array of musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Run...

Lock and Code S1Ep2: On the challenges of managed service providers

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 two representatives from an Atlanta-based managed service provider—a manager of engineering services and a data center architect—about the daily challeng...

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...

Fraudsters cloak credit card skimmer with fake content delivery network, ngrok server

Threat actors love to abuse legitimate brands and infrastructure—this, we know. Last year we exposed how web skimmers had found their way onto Amazon's Cloudfront content delivery network CDN via insecure S3 buckets. Now, we discovered scammers pretending to be CDNs while exfiltrating data and...

New Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA) would empower American users

Despite the already dizzying number of comprehensive data privacy proposals before the US Senate—nearly 10 have been introduced since mid-2018—yet another bill has entered the conversation: the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act. This time, the bill, called COPRA for short, is sponsored by a...

A week in security (December 2 – December 8)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we took a look at a new version of the IcedID Trojan, described web skimmers up to no good, and took a deep dive into containerization. We also explored a report bringing bad news for organizations and insider threats, and threw a spotlight on a video game phish...

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...

Deepfakes and LinkedIn: malign interference campaigns

Deepfakes haven't quite lost the power to surprise, but given their wholesale media saturation in the last year or so, there’s a sneaking suspicion in some quarters that they may have missed the bus. When people throw a fake Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn online these days, the response seems to ...

No summer break for Magecart as web skimming intensifies

This summer, you are more likely to find the cybercriminal groups Magecart client-side rather than poolside. Web skimming, which consists of stealing payment information directly from within the browser, is one of today's top web threats. Magecart, the group behind many of these attacks, gained...

A week in security (October 22 – 28)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we took a look at some new Mac malware, gave you a roundup of 2018 exploit kits, and dispensed some advice on sextortion scams. We also looked at the Cathay Pacific breach, groaned at the revival of an old browser trick, and explained how voting machines and...

Phone spampocalypse: fighting back in the age of unwanted calls

When Nigel Guest, then president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations CNA, sent an email with the subject line, “test,” and the small letter “x” in its message body, the city of Berkeley, CA, went into a frenzy. You see, Mr. Guest thought he sent it only to himself, but he actually posted...

The danger of third parties: ads, pipelines, and plugins

It may or may not be comforting to know that, ultimately, bulletproof security is out of your hands. You can have the most locked down PC on Earth, have two-factor authentication 2FA set up across the board, take sensible actions to protect your personal information, and read all the EULAs under...

An in-depth malware analysis of QuantLoader

This guest post is written by Vishal Thakur, CSIRT/Salesforce. For more on Vishal, read his bio at the end of the blog. QuantLoader is a Trojan downloader that has been available for sale on underground forums for quite some time now. It has been used in campaigns serving a range of malware,...

Search engine shenanigans: Malwarebytes mentions aren’t what they seem

Thing might be a touch quiet at the moment as we ease into 2018, but that doesn't mean dubious antics and dodgy dealings aren't still making waves online. As a matter of fact, should you go searching for some of our researchers, their blog posts, or just a couple of notable quotables from news...

Traditional AV solutions shown ineffective in real-time global heat map

It's no secret that antivirus technology AV has faced increased scrutiny in the tech industry for quite some time. With signature-based detection methods, traditional AV solutions are simply weak against unknown malware and other malicious content. Meanwhile, consumers and businesses continue to...

When an “Outstanding” rating from CNET isn’t enough

The editors at respected tech site CNET/Download.com recently awarded Malwarebytes for Windows with an “outstanding” rating of 4.5 stars out of five. In the review, editor Tom McNamara recommended Malwarebytes because the scanning engine is of “high quality,” it works well with Windows 10, and do...

Old MS Office feature weaponized in malspam attacks

There have been a lot of talks recently following a write up and proof of concept about a Microsoft Office feature that can be misused and weaponized by malicious actors. The protocol, known as Dynamic Data Exchange.aspx DDE, has actually been around for a long time, and allows applications to...

Patch now! VMWare escape flaws are so serious even end-of-life software gets a fix

VMWare has issued secuity fixes for its VMware ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, and Cloud Foundation products. It has even taken the unusual step of issuing updates for versions of the affected software that have reached thier end-of-life, meaning they would normally no longer be supported. This flaws...

One year later, Rhadamanthys is still dropped via malvertising

It was just a little over a year ago that the Rhadamanthys stealer was first publicly seen distributed via malicious ads. Throughout 2023, we observed a continuation in malvertising chains related to software downloads. Fast forward to 2024 and the same malvertising campaigns are still going on...

Explained: SMTP smuggling

SMTP smuggling is a technique that allows an attacker to send an email from pretty much any address they like. The intended goal is email spoofing—sending emails with false sender addresses. Email spoofing allows criminals to make malicious emails more believable. Let’s take a closer look at what...

Update now! Apple patches a raft of vulnerabilities

Apple has released security updates for its phones, iPads, Macs, watches and TVs. Updates are available for these products: iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th...

FBI confirms Barracuda patch is not effective for exploited ESG appliances

In an FBI Flash about a Barracuda ESG vulnerability, listed as CVE-2023-2868, the FBI has stated that the patches released by Barracuda in response to this CVE were ineffective for anyone previously infected. Although both Barracude and Mandiant have already made this determination, the agency sa...

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...

Explained: Fuzzing for security

Fuzzing, or fuzz testing, is defined as an automated software testing method that uses a wide range of invalid and unexpected data as input to find flaws in the software undergoing the test. The flaws do not necessarily have to be security vulnerabilities. Fuzzing can also bring other undesirable...

Patch now! Cisco VPN routers are vulnerable to remote control

Cisco has released a security advisory about several vulnerabilities in the Cisco Small Business RV series routers, covering the RV160, RV260, RV340, and RV345. There are no workarounds available that address these vulnerabilities, so you need to patch. Vulnerabilities The vulnerabilities are...

Forced Chrome extensions get removed, keep reappearing

In the continued saga of annoying search extensions we have a new end-of-level boss. Victims have been reporting browser extensions that were removed by Malwarebytes, but “magically” came back later. Since the victims also complained about the message saying their browser was "managed", we had a...

Discord scammers go CryptoBatz phishing

It’s not been a great couple of weeks for people looking to get in on NFTs. Missing apes, rug-pulls, it’s all go in non-fungible token land. The latest mishap has come to light, in the shape of bad planning and the slowly shifting impermanence of link ownership. Rockstar Ozzy Osbourne announced...

What is fileless malware?

Unlike traditional malware, which relies on a file being written to a disk, fileless malware is intended to be memory resident only, ideally leaving no trace after its execution. The malicious payload exists in the computer’s memory, which means nothing is ever written directly to the hard drive...

Amazon will pay you $10 for your palm prints. Should you be worried?

Retail giant Amazon recently offered to pay $10 USD for your palm prints. Would you offer them your hand? Many seem to home in and seethe over the price being too little for something as priceless and unique as their palm print, not realizing that when it does come to registering biometric data i...

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...

Binance receives the ban hammer from UK’s FCA

Binance, the worlds largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange network, has had a rough few days. First, Japans financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency FSA, issued its second warning to Binance on Friday, 25 June, for operating in the country without permission The first warning...

Lil’ skimmer, the Magecart impersonator

This blog post was authored by Jérôme Segura A very common practice among criminals consists of mimicking legitimate infrastructure when registering new domain names. This is very true for Magecart threat actors who love to impersonate Google, jQuery and many other popular brands. In this post we...

How to deactivate or delete your Facebook account

People worldwide use Facebook to connect with friends and family, and to engage in pointless debates with strangers over moderately amusing cat videos. But while some feel that the social media platform is an essential part of life, others find the data scandals and privacy issues disconcerting...

How to clear cookies

Until the information age, cookies were only known as a tasty but unhealthy snack that some people enjoyed, and others avoided. HTTP cookies, also known as computer, browser, or Internet cookies, are similarly divisive. Although some people like the more personalized browsing experience created b...

Careers in cybersecurity: Malwarebytes talks to teachers and students

Every year, I take part in talks for universities and schools. The theme is often breaking into infosec. I give advice to teens considering pursuing tech as a further area of study. I explain a typical working day for degree undergraduates. Sometimes I’m asked to give examples of conference talks...

Defending online anonymity and speech with Eva Galperin: Lock and Code S02E03

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs. In addition, we talk to Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for Electronic Frontier Foundation, about the importance of protecting online anonymity and speech. In January, the New York Times expose...

Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

Emulators have played a part in many tech-savvy users’ lives. They introduce a level of flexibility that not only allows another system to run on top of a user’s operating system—a Windows OS running on a MacBook laptop, for example—but also allows video gamers to play games designed to work on a...

Browser sync—what are the risks of turning it on?

Modern browsers include synchronization features like Google Chromes Sync so that all your browsers, on all your devices, share the same tabs, passwords, plugins, and other features. While this is certainly convenient, particularly when youre migrating to a new device, synchronizing browsers also...

How a VPN can protect your online privacy

Have you ever experienced the feeling of relief that comes when you do something silly, but youre glad you did it where people dont know you? Or maybe you wished you were somewhere like that, but alas… That is what a Virtual Private Network VPN can do for you: it can put you in a place where you...

Ubiquiti breach, and other IoT security problems

Networking equipment manufacturer Ubiquiti sent out an email to warn users about a possible data breach. The email stated there had been unauthorized access to its IT systems that are hosted with a third-party cloud provider. Ubiquiti Networks sells networking devices and IoT devices. It did not...

VPN usage is increasing, says December 2020 survey

I won’t reveal my mom’s exact age, but she’s in her late 60s. Other than her phone, my mom doesn’t own or use a computer—but she knows what Zoom is. Not since “Kleenex” has a brand become so pervasive that people use the brand name as a generic term for the product. For my mom, any kind of video...