How to protect your data from Magecart and other e-commerce attacks

In today's golden age of online shopping, consumers take to the Internet, punch in a few credit card details, and happily receive products at their doorstep, safe in the knowledge that their online vendor is well-known, vetted, and therefore their website has to be secure, right? Dut did you know...

New strain of Mac malware Proton found after two years

Last week, Kaspersky reported on a new variant of the Mac malware Proton, which they have dubbed Calisto, that has been around for at least two years. Calisto is thoroughly dead at this point, but there are still potential security implications involved with these older infections. Proton was fir...

Kuik: a simple yet annoying piece of adware

Some pieces of malware can be so simple—and yet such a pain to get rid of—especially when they start interfering with your system's configuration. This much is true for the Kuik adware program, which surprised us all by forcing affected machines to join a domain controller. The perpetrators are...

WPA3 will secure Wi-Fi connections in four significant ways in 2018

CES, the annual consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas, isn’t just a showcase for virtual reality and poorly-timed power outages. It’s also an opportunity to get a peek at the future of network security. That’s why on the first day of CES, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced the newest security...

BSides Manchester: Malvertising – under the hood

I've talked about malvertising a fair bit at security events down the years and I was lucky enough to be able to add to the tally at this month's BSides Manchester conference. Whether your preferred variety is desktop, mobile, or even virtual/augmented reality, there's hopefully something here fo...

The numeric tech support scam campaign

There are many different tech support scam TSS campaigns active at any given moment, the majority of them are fueled by malicious adverts the browser lockers, or bundled software the screen lockers. Something interesting happened recently, where legitimate - but hacked - websites would redirect t...

CISA urges urgent patching of two actively exploited Citrix NetScaler vulnerabilities

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has added two Citrix NetScaler vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and it has set the “due date” a week after they were added. Federal Civilian Executive Branch FCEB agencies are handed specific deadlines for wh...

Update now! SysAid vulnerability is actively being exploited by ransomware affiliate

Users of SysAid on-premises should take action to deal with a vulnerability. SysAid is a widely used IT service management solution that allows IT teams to manage tasks. Microsoft discovered an ongoing exploitation of a zero-day vulnerability in the SysAid IT support software in limited attacks b...

Update Chrome now! Google patches actively exploited zero-day

Google has released an update which includes two security fixes. One of these security fixes is for a zero-day about which Google says its aware that an exploit for this vulnerability exists in the wild. How to protect yourself If youre a Chrome user on Windows, Mac, or Linux, you should update a...

Breast cancer photos published by ransomware gang

The Russia-linked ALPHV ransomware group, also known as BlackCat, has posted sensitive clinical photos of breast cancer patients--calling them "nude photos"--to extort money from the Lehigh Valley Health Network LVHN. This has triggered a chorus of accusations from the cybersecurity community, wi...

Malwarebytes' modernized bug bounty program—here's all you need to know

Malwarebytes welcomes and encourages independent researchers reporting vulnerabilities in our products, and has run a bug bounty program for several years. Our security team has spent the last few months modernizing the program and we thought you'd like to hear about it. What is a bug bounty...

Your HP Support Assistant needs an update!

HP has issued a new version of its HP Support Assistant tool. Users of HP Support Assistant versions earlier than 9.11 and Fusion versions earlier than 1.38.2601.0 are affected by a high severity vulnerability. According to HP it is possible for an attacker to exploit a dynamic-link library DLL...

Predatory Sparrow massively disrupts steel factories while keeping workers safe

Stuxnets attack on Irans uranium enrichment facilities manifested fears of cyberattacks leaking into the real world. What once was theory is now upon us. Two weeks ago, multiple Iranian steel facilities experienced a cyberattack that might have been pulled off by what many cybersecurity experts i...

Here’s what data the FBI can get from WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, Telegram, and more

Not every secure messaging app is as safe as it would like us to think. And some are safer than others. A recently disclosed FBI training document shows how much access to the content of encrypted messages from secure messaging services US law enforcement can gain and what they can learn about yo...

Shrootless: Microsoft finds Apple macOS vulnerability

Microsoft researchers have discovered a vulnerability in macOS, dubbed Shrootless, that can allow attackers to bypass System Integrity Protection SIP and perform malicious activities, such as gaining root privileges and installing rootkits on vulnerable devices. Microsoft reported the Shrootless...

“Killware”: Is it just as bad as it sounds?

On October 12, after interviewing US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, USA TODAY’s editorial board warned its readers about a dangerous new form of cyberattack under this eye-catching headline: “The next big cyberthreat isnt ransomware. Its killware. And its just as bad as it...

Windows 10 to retire in four years (or 52 Patch Tuesdays, in sysadmin years)

Microsoft will terminate support for Windows 10 Home and Pro on 14 October 2025, a decade after the original Windows 10 was brought to market. Although some may claim that a Microsoft document has been "quietly edited" over the weekend to reflect this "sudden change", this reveal isnt new. In fac...

What is an IP address? Do I need one?

An IP address tells computers how to find a certain device within a computer network. An IP address is like an address label for information packets. For each network your computer is connected to, it has a unique IP address on that network. So, one device can have several IP addresses at the sam...

Deepfakes and the 2020 United States election: missing in action?

If you believe reports in the news, impending deepfake disaster is headed our way in time for the 2020 United States election. Political intrigue, dubious clips, mischief and mayhem were all promised. We’ll need to be careful around clips of the President issuing statements about being at war, or...

Report: Pandemic caused significant shift in buyer appetite in the dark web

Last year, credentials for PayPal, Facebook, and Airbnb were among the top goods on high demand in the dark web, aka the Internets underground market. But due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with most of the worldwide population sheltering, working, and studying indoors, many facets of life have made a...

Lock and Code S1Ep8: Securely working from home (WFH) with John Donovan and Adam Kujawa

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 John Donovan, head of security at Malwarebytes, and Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebtyes Labs, about securely working from home WFH. With shelter-in-pla...

A week in security (March 16 – 22)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we concluded our series on child identity theft. We also looked into threat actors and campaigns that ride the COVID-19 train, namely the criminal group APT36 and threat actors purporting to be the World Health Organization WHO but instead spreading malware. Lastly...

Introducing Lock and Code: a Malwarebytes Labs podcast

Intrepid Labs readers might be happy to know that we're stepping into territory long-requested and desired: we're launching a podcast. Malwarebytes researchers and reporters are on the front lines of cybercrime, delivering both fast-breaking news and thoughtful features on our blog to raise...

Battling online coronavirus scams with facts

Panic and confusion about the recent coronavirus outbreak spurred threat actors to launch several malware campaigns across the world, relying on a tried-and-true method to infect people’s machines: fear. Cybercriminals targeted users in Japan with an Emotet campaign that included malicious Word...

A week in security (January 27 – February 2)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the Zero Trust model, gave you the low-down on spear phishing, and took a delve into the world of securing the managed service provider MSP. Other cybersecurity news UN compromised via Sharepoint hack: An extraordinary...

A week in security (January 20 – 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we reported on a Ryuk ransomware attack on The Tampa Bay Times, a newspaper in Florida; unmasked an elaborate browser locking scheme behind the more advanced tech support operations that are currently active; and looked at the latest laws on regulating deepfakes...

New Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) veterans program aims to bridge skills gap, diversify sector

The cybersecurity industry has a problem: We have zero unemployment rate. Or so we're told. With experts predicting millions of job openings in the years to come—coupled with the industry’s projected growth of US$289.9 billion by 2026 and soaring cyberattacks against businesses—now is as good a...

Researchers discover vulnerabilities in smart assistants’ voice commands

Virtual personal assistants VPA, also known as smart assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, are in the spotlight for vulnerabilities to attack. Take, for example, that incident about an Oregon couple’s Echo smart speaker inadvertently recording their conversation and sending it to...

Engaging students in cybersecurity: a primer for educators

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Maimonides The education sector has had its share of breaches. And schools, like medical and retail institutions, continue to struggle when it comes to securing their highly-priced assets: student a...

Cybersecurity New Year’s resolutions, you say? Why not.

It's mid-January, and oh, how time flies. It wasn’t long since we bid farewell to 2017 and welcomed the new year with renewed hope and vigor. Of course, with such positivity comes a sense of an equally favorable outlook for the year ahead. However good that may sound, being faced with a tabula ra...

A week in security (January 1 – January 7)

New year, new threats, as 2018 gets underway. On our blog, we had dubious searches aplenty for those hunting for Malwarebytes information, and we also covered the huge Meltdown/Spectre bug, affecting hardware going back to 10 years. Other news Coin miners are at it again, with a proof of concept...

Bad romance: catphishing explained

You've heard or read about some variant of this story before: Girl meets Boy on a dating website. Girl falls in love. Boy claims he does, too. Girl is excited to meet Boy soon. But at the last minute, Girl finds out that Boy 1 had an accident and broke a hip; 2 has a very sick relative he needs t...

Locky ransomware adds anti sandbox feature (updated)

By Marcelo Rivero and Jérôme Segura The Locky ransomware has been very active since its return which we documented in a previous blog post. There are several different Locky campaigns going on at the same time, the largest being the one from affiliate ID 3 which comes with malicious ZIP containin...

Update now! ConnectWise ScreenConnect vulnerability needs your attention

ConnectWise is warning self-hosted and on-premise customers that they need to take immediate action to remediate a critical vulnerability in its ScreenConnect remote desktop software. This software is typically used in data-centers and for remote assistance. Together ConnectWise’s partners manage...

FBI and CISA publish guide to Living off the Land techniques

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, National Security Agency NSA, Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, and other authoring agencies have released a joint guidance about common living off the land LOTL techniques and common gaps in cyber defense capabilities. Living Off The...

Patch now! Fortra GoAnywhere MFT vulnerability exploit available

On January 22, 2024, software company Fortra warned customers about a new authentication bypass vulnerability impacting GoAnywhere MFT Managed File Transfer that allows an attacker to create a new admin user. Fortra GoAnywhere MFT is a file transfer solution that organizations use to exchange the...

Atomic Stealer rings in the new year with updated version

Last year, we documented malware distribution campaigns both via malvertising and compromised sites delivering Atomic Stealer AMOS onto Mac users. This stealer has proven to be quite popular in the criminal underground and its developers have been adding new features to justify its hefty...

Update Chrome now! Emergency update patches zero-day

Google has released an emergency security update for Chrome that brings the browsers Stable channel to version 120.0.6099.129 for Mac, Linux and to 120.0.6099.129/130 for Windows. This update includes one security fix for a vulnerability that was subject to an existing exploit. The easiest way to...

Nude “before and after” photos stolen from plastic surgeon, posted online, and sent to victims’ family and friends

The FBI is investigating a data breach where cybercriminals were able to steal patients’ records from a Las Vegas plastic surgeons office, and then post the details online which included nude photos. In February, cybercriminals gained access to Hankins & Sohns network, which has offices in both...

Trusted Advisor puts you in the security driving seat

Malwarebytes' new Trusted Advisor dashboard provides an easy to understand assessment of your security with a single comprehensive protection score, and clear, expert-driven advice. Computer security can be difficult and time consuming. Getting it right means knowing what software needs to be...

Ransomware review: August 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...

Big changes to Twitter verification: How to spot a verified account

Twitter has made some fairly major changes to how its verified checkmark status works, and its already causing some confusion. If you rely on the checkmark symbol for confirmation that the individual or business tweeting is actually the real deal, your regular process is now different. How...

Serious vulnerabilities found in ITarian software, patches available for SaaS products

Dutch research group DIVD has identified multiple vulnerabilities in ITarian products. In cooperation with DIVD, ITarian has made patches available to deal with these vulnerabilities for its SaaS platform. Software as a service SaaS is a software distribution model in which a cloud provider hosts...

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...

Lenovo issues fixes for laptop backdoors

Researchers have discovered three vulnerabilities affecting various Lenovo consumer laptop models. The vulnerabilities were found in UEFI firmware drivers originally meant to be used only during the manufacturing process, along with a vulnerability in the SW SMI handler function. The list of...

GitLab issues security updates; watch out for hard coded passwords

GitLab has issued several critical security updates, with users of the version control software urged to upgrade their installations as soon as possible. One of the fixes is for a hard coded password issue. What is distributed version control? Distributed version control is a way for an...

Google’s Threat Horizons report: Will the straightforward approach get results?

Google’s Cybersecurity Action Team has released a Threat Horizons report focusing on cloud security. It’s taken some criticism for being surprisingly straightforward and less complex than you may expect. On the other hand, many businesses simply don’t understand many of the threats at large...

Security researchers play peek-a-boo with Conti ransomware server

It’s not been a great time for ransomware authors recently. Well, some ransomware authors at any rate. While many are making huge amounts of money from their device-locking antics, its not a profession without risk. Every so often something can and does go wrong, and ransomware groups get into al...

When renting a hitman online goes horribly wrong

You might think looking up an illegal act online, and then visiting a website claiming to be all about doing said act, would be a huge mistake. Nobody would do this, right? Right? Its too wild to contemplate. You can barely move online for warnings about tracking or tracing. Even your web browser...

FBI warns of ransomware threat to food and agriculture

The FBI has issued a Private Industry Notification PIN about cybercriminal actors targeting the food and agriculture sector with ransomware attacks. Farms are literally the first step in one of the most important, if not the most important, supply chain in our economy: The food supply chain. As...