How the cops buy a "God view" of your location data, with Bennett Cyphers: Lock and Code S04E09

The list of people and organizations that are hungry for your location data--collected so routinely and packaged so conveniently that it can easily reveal where you live, where you work, where you shop, pray, eat, and relax--includes many of the usual suspects. Advertisers, obviously, want to sen...

Introducing Malwarebytes Application Block: How to block unauthorized software from executing on Windows endpoints

Malwarebytes is excited to announce Application Block, a new module for Nebula and OneView for MSPs which helps organizations easily thwart unwanted applications from launching on Windows endpoints. For as many applications out there that help you keep business running as usual, there are just as...

Fake Proof-of-Concepts used to lure security professionals

Researchers from the Leiden University published a paper detailing how cybercriminals are using fake Proof-of-Concepts PoCs to install malware on researchers' systems. The researchers found these fake PoCs on a platform where security professionals would usually expect to find them--the public co...

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...

Fake Cyberpunk Ape Executives target artists with malware-laden job offer

The wacky world of ape jpegs are at the heart of yet another increasingly bizarre internet scam, which contains malware, stolen accounts, a faint possibility of phishing, and zips full of ape pictures. The Ape Executives have a job offer you can, and must, refuse Lots of people with art profiles ...

“URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL!!!” 419 scammer wants your help to move someone’s inheritance

We’ve received several emails over the last couple of days which follow the classic 419 mail scam method. Titled “URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL!!!”, the mail reads as follows: Greetings, I am Mukhtar M. Hussain. I got your contact information from a reputable business/professional directory. I'm worki...

Blunting RDP brute-force attacks with rate limiting

Thanks to the Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence Team for the information they provided for this article. Not long ago, guessing a Windows Remote Desktop Protocol RDP password successfully was widely regarded as ransomware operators number one choice for breaching a target. It attracted a lot of...

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...

[updated]REvil ransomware disappears after Tor services hijacked

With some pests you hope they never recover from a blow. It’s almost too good to be true, but one can hope. This is one of them. The REvil ransomware group has shut down their operation for the second time this year after losing control over their Tor-based domains. Shutdown number 1 REvils first...

Windows 11 is out. Is it any good for security?

Windows 11, the latest operating system OS from Microsoft, launches today, and organizations have begun asking themselves when and if they should upgrade from Windows 10 or older versions. The requirements and considerations of each organization will be different, and many things will inform the...

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...

Zoom and gloom? Video comms org agrees to settle for $85m

Zoom has agreed to an $85m settlement regarding privacy, zoom-bombing, and data sharing. The class action privacy lawsuit filed in the US against the embattled company wasn’t particularly impressed with the following: Zoom-bombing running wild in video sessions. Zoom-bombing, the practice of...

Is crypto’s criminal rollercoaster approaching a terminal dip?

It’s a turbulent time in the cryptomining realm, especially for malware authors. Some big attacks and a lot of publicity has resulted in prolific groups promising to disband, even if potentially only temporarily. Running a tighter ship The mining banhammer continues to swing as China keeps puttin...

Beware password-spraying fancy bears

The NSA, FBI, and CISA, in cooperation with the UKs National Cyber Security Centre NCSC, have issued a report that describes in detail why, and how, they think that a Russian military unit is behind large-scale brute-force attacks on the cloud-IT resources of government and private sector compani...

A week in security (May 31 – June 6)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at an interesting trend in facial recognition technology—hint: its a slow fade, the latest ransomware attacks on JBS and Steamship Authority, Cobalt Strike, a Coronavirus phishing campaign, WhatsApp’s decision to not limit app functionalities for...

Security pros agree about threats—convincing everyone else is the problem

How about that Colonial Pipeline? As troubling as this event may be, for those of us working in the world of cybersecurity it can be hard to convince others to take dangers like this seriously—regardless of how real and immediate they are. “Sadly, the upper leadership team does not understand the...

JBS says it is recovering quickly from a ransomware attack

This week another major supplier reported it had been hit with ransomware. After the Colonial Pipeline attack last month, this time the victim is the worlds largest meatpacker, JBS. JBS halted cattle slaughter at all its US plants on Tuesday after the attack caused their Australian operations to...

City fined for tracking its citizens via their phones

The Dutch information watchdog—the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens AP—has fined the city of Enschede for € 600,000 for tracking its citizens movements without permission. It is the first time that a Dutch government body has been fined by the AP. The investigation was set in motion after it received ...

International Women’s Day: Women in tech name their heroes

Happy Monday! And if you haven’t yet checked the significance of this day—March 8—before grabbing coffee, today is International Women’s Day IWD. Since March 19, 1911, the year the very first IWD was observed in several European countries, millions of people have been calling for women to be give...

Buying COVID-19 vaccines from the Dark Web? No thanks!

Even though we hope that this is an unnecessary warning, we do want to put it out there. As soon as there was talk about a vaccine being available against the COVID-19 virus there were vendors on the Dark Web offering Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines for sale. Now that the UK has started its...

Mobile network operator falls into the hands of Fullz House criminal group

Update 2020-10-05: The malicious code has been removed from Boom! Mobiles website Most victims of Magecart-based attacks tend to be typical online shops selling various goods. However, every now and again we come across different types of businesses which were affected simply because they happene...

Chrome extensions that lie about their permissions

“But I checked the permissions before I installed this pop-up-blocker—it said nothing about changing my searches,” my dad retorts after I scold him for installing yet another search-hijacking Chrome extension. Granted, they are not hard to remove, but having to do it over and over is a nuisance...

Cybersecurity labeling scheme introduced to help users choose safe IoT devices

The Internet of Things IoT is a term used to describe a wide variety of devices that are connected to the Internet to improve user experience. For example, a doorbell becomes part of the IoT when it connects to the Internet and allows users to see visitors outside their door. But the way in which...

Bring your own privacy: VPNs for consumers and orgs

VPNs virtual private networks have been popular for quite some time now, and they’re worth a huge amount of money for the companies working in this area. They’re also at the forefront of combating potential repression and censorship around the world. It might all sound a bit esoteric and unrelate...

6 ways hackers are targeting retail businesses

Retail hacking is no new phenomenon, although it has increased in frequency over the last few years. In fact, retailers experienced more breaches than any other industry in 2019, and they've lost over $30 billion to cybersecurity attacks. Both brick-and-mortar and online businesses experience...

Sophisticated threats plague ailing healthcare industry

The healthcare industry is no longer circling the drain, but it's still in critical condition. While many organizations in healthcare have aimed at or made positive strides toward a more robust cybersecurity and privacy posture, they still have a long way to go. In 2018, healthcare had the highes...

World Cup 2018: malware attacks gunning for goal

World Cup 2018 is upon us and in full swing, bringing together 32 nations for a month of footballing to see who'll be crowned World Champion. With the tournament underway, we thought it'd be fun to see which of the footballing powerhouses also expended a similar amount of energy fighting off...

Explained: blockchain technology

Last week, we talked about what cryptocurrency is and why cybercriminals love it. We mentioned that cryptocurrency was founded on a technology called blockchain, which is a tight system that, when applied correctly, is more secure than most other financial transactions. In this post, we'll explai...

Apple WebKit vulnerabilities reveal your IP address, despite Private Relay

Three WebKit mechanisms have been discovered to bypass Apple's iCloud Private Relay. In fact, the mechanisms can bypass any browser‑level proxy configuration, including Psylo’s proxy, Tor-on-iOS proxy setups, and so on. Private Relay is a VPN-like system for Safari on iOS which is meant to preven...

Junk Cleaner clears the clutter from your Android

Your phone is full again, and the warning appears at exactly the wrong moment. Suddenly you can't update apps, record a video, or save another photo. The cause is rarely one giant file. Storage disappears in a steady drizzle of leftovers: temporary files an app creates and forgets, caches that gr...

Call of Duty Mobile scam uses fake free points to steal player accounts

Call of Duty Mobile players should watch out for a phishing campaign disguised as a free Call of Duty Points giveaway. Victims are asked to log in with their email address and password to claim free Call of Duty Points CP, the game's premium currency. They're then redirected to a second page aski...

GTA 6 early access is nothing but a scam

A new wave of scam websites is offering something millions of people want: a way to play Grand Theft Auto VI before it comes out. " Get GTA 6 before everyone else." " Buy VIP early access." Pay a few hundred dollars in cryptocurrency, enter a payment code, and supposedly unlock the game. But it's...

“Free World Cup stream” sites are serving scams, not football

With the World Cup on, you'll find no shortage of websites promising every match, live, in HD, for free. They look convincing, usually with a video player, a "Live Stream Available" indicator, a row of server buttons, maybe a match schedule, and a "Watch Live" button. There's no signup, no paywal...

Fake virus alerts are invading mobile games

Sometimes it happens. You’re happily playing a game on your phone or laptop when suddenly alarms pop up out of nowhere: " Your device is infected!" " Your iCloud is full!" " Your account is restricted for watching porn!" Some games can be played for free if you agree to watch ads, and in others y...

Fake malware-signing service Fox Tempest dismantled by Microsoft

Microsoft says it dismantled a malware-signing-as-a-service MSaaS called Fox Tempest, which helped cybercriminals make malware appear legitimate. The service let customers submit malicious files to be digitally signed with short-lived Microsoft-issued certificates, making the malware look...

Google cracks down on Android apps abusing accessibility

Google just dropped a bombshell for app developers with the latest version of its Android mobile operating system. The company can now prevent apps from installing if they try to use the system's accessibility features. The new development, live in version 17.2 of Android, is all about security,...

How Manifest v3 forced us to rethink Browser Guard, and why that’s a good thing

As a Browser Guard user, you might not have noticed much difference lately. Browser Guard still blocks scams and phishing attempts just like always, and, in many cases, even better. But behind the scenes, almost everything changed. The rules that govern how browser extensions work went through a...

Encrypted messaging service intercepted, 2.3 million messages read by law enforcement

European law enforcement agencies have taken down yet another encrypted messaging service mainly used by criminals. The Matrix encrypted messaging service was an invite-only service which was also marketed under the names Mactrix, Totalsec, X-quantum, or Q-safe. Dutch and French authorities start...

Fake Microsoft Teams for Mac delivers Atomic Stealer

Competition between stealers for macOS is heating up, with a new malvertising campaign luring Mac users via a fraudulent advert for Microsoft Teams. This attack comes on the heels of the new Poseidon OSX.RodStealer project, another threat using a similar code base and delivery techniques. Based o...

A week in security (June 10 – June 16)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Truist bank confirms data breach Update now! Google Pixel vulnerability is under active exploitation Adobe clarifies Terms of Service change, says it doesn’t train AI on customer content 23andMe data breach under joint investigation in two countries When things go...

Hewlett Packard Enterprise also searched by Cozy Bear

Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE has disclosed that the state-sponsored actor known as Cozy Bear aka Midnight Blizzard, gained unauthorized access to HPE’s cloud-based email environment. This news comes only days after Microsoft broke very similar news that it got hacked by this same state sponsore...

3 benefits of ThreatDown bundles

Traditional approaches to endpoint security today have a three-fold complexity problem—with big consequences. First, complexity in deployment causes long delays in protection, directly impacting ROI and leaving organizations vulnerable to breaches. In fact, almost 10 percent of small security tea...

A week in security (June 12 - 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: MOVEit discloses THIRD critical vulnerability Fake security researchers push malware files on GitHub LockBit ransomware advisory from CISA provides interesting insights Microsoft fixes six critical vulnerabilities in June Patch Tuesday Update Chrome now! Google fix...

New Twitter data dump is a cleaned up version of old Twitter dump

News of data dumps is often scary as the possibilities of identity theft, account takeovers, user de-anonymization, and other online data-driven threats rear their ugly heads. Reading about the latest reports of a new Twitter dump, however, is like opening up an already-healed wound, as the dump...

Apple's AirTag stalker safeguards are "woefully inadequate," alleges lawsuit

Two women filed a proposed class-action lawsuit on Monday, December 5, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple, the makers of AirTags. Airtags are a small Bluetooth-enabled devices designed to track personal belongings. The suit accuses the compan...

A week in security (October 10 - 16)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Teen talk: What it's like to grow up online, and the role of parents: Lock and Code S03E21 White House unveils Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights Credential stuffers take aim at Final Fantasy XIV players Meta accuses apps of stealing WhatsApp accounts Smart lights...

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--lets get started. Q: When...

Report: Brazil must do more to encrypt, back up data

Federal government organisations in Brazil may need to reassess their approach to cyberthreats, according to a new report by the countrys Federal Audit Court. It outlines multiple key areas of concern across 29 key areas of risk. One of the biggest problems in the cybercrime section of the report...

Investment scams are on the rise

Preying on one of the most basic human flaws, investment scams and other get-rich-quick schemes are making up an ever larger portion of the online scammers cake. The number of victims, for now, is lower than the number of victims of fraudulent sales, identity fraud, and dating fraud, but the cost...

Why we don’t patch, with Jess Dodson: Lock and Code S03E02

In 2017, the largest ransomware attack ever recorded hit the world, infecting more than 230,000 computers across more than 150 countries in just 24 hours. And it could have been solved with a patch that was released nearly two months prior. This was the WannaCry ransomware attack, and its final,...