How NOT to fail at PDF redaction

The heated spat between Europe and AstraZeneca over a contract has segued into an unexpected blunder that left many of us chuckling and surprised at the same time. Perhaps even feeling a bit awkward. Recently, the European Commission published a PDF version of the contract it had with AstraZeneca...

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...

A week in security (December 14 – December 20)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs we kept you updated on the SolarWinds attack, we warned about the special dangers that come with the Christmas season, published a threat profile for the Egregor ransomware, warned how a lead generation scam was targeting potential Malwarebytes MSP partners, and...

Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports

While leaving your back door open while you are working from home may be something you do without giving it a second thought, having unnecessary ports open on your computer is a security risk that is sometimes underestimated. Thats because an open port can be subject to brute force attacks. What...

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...

Phishers spoof reliable cybersecurity training company to garner clicks

"It happens to the best of us." And, indeed, no adage is better suited to a phishing campaign that recently made headlines. Fraudsters used the brand, KnowBe4—a trusted cybersecurity company that offers security awareness training for organizations—to gain recipients’ trust, their Microsoft Outlo...

Deepfakes or not: new GAN image stirs up questions about digital fakery

Subversive deepfakes that enter the party unannounced, do their thing, then slink off into the night without anybody noticing are where it’s at. Easily debunked clips of Donald Trump yelling THE NUKES ARE UP or something similarly ludicrous are not a major concern. We’ve already dug into why that...

RevenueWire to pay $6.7 million to settle FTC charges

What can you do as a scammer when no legitimate payment provider wants to process your payments anymore? Or, what if you are growing sick and tired of these same payment providers reimbursing disgruntled customers who claim that your products didn't fix computers, like—you know—you said they woul...

Cloud data protection: how to secure what you store in the cloud

The cloud has become the standard for data storage. Just a few years ago, individuals and businesses pondered whether or not they should move to the cloud. This is now a question of the past. Today, the question isn't whether to adopt cloud storage but rather how. Despite its rapid pace of...

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...

Security tips for working from home (WFH)

Over the last decade, remote work and working from home has grown in popularity for many professionals. In fact, a 2018 study found more than 70 percent of global employees work remotely at least once per week. However, the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown in many parts of the world ha...

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...

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 ...

Safari users: Where did your extensions go?

Safari 12 has brought with it some changes to how OSX handles browser extensions. At WWDC in June, Apple announced that Safari would block legacy extensions installed from outside the Extensions Gallery, which itself would now be deprecated. As a replacement, Safari will now rely on "app...

How to create an intentional culture of security

In this day and age, companies great and small are vulnerable to potential attacks that they are exposed to every day. From insider threats to simple phishing, one is always left guessing if they know enough to handle them or are well prepared to face the risks. Educating your staff about basic...

Compromised LinkedIn accounts used to send phishing links via private message and InMail

Phishing continues to be a criminals' favorite for harvesting user credentials with more or less sophisticated social engineering tricks. In this post, we take a look at a recent attack that uses existing LinkedIn user accounts to send phishing links to their contacts via private message but also...

Scammers know your name, and they’re counting on you to reply

Scammers are finding different ways to use personal details exposed in data breaches to lure people into conversations. Last week, we showed how a Facebook Marketplace listing used the recipient’s name to make a text asking “Is this still available?” more convincing. The one we got this week was ...

Update your iPhone, iPad and Mac to fix Apple security holes

Apple has shipped a hefty round of July security patches, headlined by iOS/iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, and Safari 26.6, with dozens of vulnerabilities squashed across kernel, WebKit, media frameworks, and core apps. These updates are primarily about improving security rather than adding new...

Microsoft Defender vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild

Two Microsoft Defender vulnerabilities are being actively exploited in the wild. On May 20, 2026, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA added a notable set of actively exploited vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities KEV catalog. The KEV catalog tracks...

Massive AI investment scam network spans 15,500 domains

Researchers tracked a large AI‑themed investment scam campaign involving more than 15,000 domains. It uses cloaking and deepfakes to hide from security tools while targeting ordinary users. Criminals abused the Keitaro ad-tracking platform as part of a cloaking system so real victims see scam...

Google Chrome’s silent 4GB AI download problem [updated]

Google Chrome has been quietly downloading a 4GB AI model onto users' devices without asking first. Security researcher Alexander Hanff, aka ThatPrivacyGuy, reports that Chrome has been silently installing Gemini Nano, Google's on-device AI model, as a file called weights.bin stored in the...

Google patches 107 Android flaws, including two being actively exploited

Google has patched 107 vulnerabilities in Android in its December 2025 Android Security Bulletin, including two high-severity flaws that are being actively exploited. The December updates are available for Android 13, 14, 15, and 16. Android vendors are notified of all issues at least a month...

A week in security (May 12 – May 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Data broker protection rule quietly withdrawn by CFPB Meta sent cease and desist letter over AI training Google to pay $1.38 billion over privacy violations Android users bombarded with unskippable ads Last week on ThreatDown: ThreatDown introduces Firewall...

A week in security (December 2 – December 8)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Europol takes down criminal data hub Manson Market in busy month for law enforcement Americans urged to use encrypted messaging after large, ongoing cyberattack Crypto’s rising value likely to bring new wave of scams AI chatbot provider exposes 346,000 customer...

Android malware FakeCall intercepts your calls to the bank

An Android banking Trojan called FakeCall is capable of hijacking the phone calls you make to your bank. Instead of reaching your bank, your call will be redirected to the cybercriminals. The Trojan accomplishes this by installing itself as the default call handler on the infected device. The...

Facebook and Instagram passwords were stored in plaintext, Meta fined

Ireland’s privacy watchdog Data Protection Commission DPC has fined Meta €91M $101M after the discovery in 2019 that Meta had stored 600 million Facebook and Instagram passwords in plaintext. The DPC ruled that Meta was in violation of GDPR on several occasions related to this breach. It determin...

Apple and Google join forces to stop unwanted tracking

Apple and Google have announced an industry specification for Bluetooth tracking devices which help alert users to unwanted tracking. The specification, called Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers, will make it possible to alert users across both iOS and Android if a device is unknowingly being...

Mental health company Cerebral failed to protect sensitive personal data, must pay $7 million

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has reached a settlement with online mental health services company Cerebral after the company was charged with failing to secure and protect sensitive health data. Cerebral has agreed to an order that will restrict how the company can use or disclose sensitive...

A week in security (April 8 – April 14)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: How to change your Social Security Number Apple warns people of mercenary attacks via threat notification system How to check if your data was exposed in the AT&T breach Microsoft’s April 2024 Patch Tuesday includes two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities H...

2024 State of Malware in Education report: Top 6 cyberthreats facing K-12 and Higher Ed

Educational institutions may face a range of cyberthreats in 2024, but our 2024 State of Malware in Education report identifies the six most critical ones. Ransomware, for example, stands out as a key threat for schools and universities. The report covers how last year, we witnessed a 92% increas...

Free VPN apps turn Android phones into criminal proxies

Researchers at HUMAN’s Satori Threat Intelligence have discovered a disturbing number of VPN apps that turn users devices into proxies for cybercriminals without their knowledge, as part of a camapign called PROXYLIB. Cybercriminals and state actors like to send their traffic through other people...

Raccoon Infostealer operator extradited to the United States

A Ukrainian national, Mark Sokolovsky, has been indicted for crimes related to fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft and extradited to the United States from the Netherlands, the US Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas has announced. In March 2022, around the same ti...

Warning from LastPass as fake app found on Apple App Store

Password Manager LastPass has warned about a fraudulent app called “LassPass Password Manager” which it found on the Apple App Store. The app closely mimics the branding and appearance of LastPass, right down to the interface. So, even if the name was a “happy accident” it seems clear that this w...

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...

2024 State of Ransomware in Education: 92% spike in K-12 attacks

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...

Meet the entirely legal, iPhone-crashing device, the Flipper Zero: Lock and Code S04E25

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… It talks, it squawks, it even blocks! The stocking-stuffer on every hobby hacker’s wish list this year is the Flipper Zero. “Talk” across low-frequency radio to surreptitiously change TV channels, emulate garage door openers, or even pop open your friend’s...

Apple to introduce new feature that makes life harder for iPhone thieves

Reportedly, Apple has plans to make it harder for iPhone thieves to steal your personal information even if they have your device’s passcode. A new feature called Stolen Device Protection is included in the beta version of iOS 17.3. The feature limits access to your private information in case...

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...

Steer clear of cryptocurrency recovery phrase scams

The dangers of cryptocurrency phishing are back in the news, after tech investor Mark Cuban was reported to have lost around $870k via a phishing link. Cuban lost a combination of coin types as asset movement flagged up after months of inactivity from his wallet. Cuban discovered some of the...

[Updated] Apple issues Rapid Security Response for zero-day vulnerability

Apple has issued an update for a vulnerability which it says may have been actively exploited. In the security content for Safari 16.5.2 we can learn that the vulnerability was found in the WebKit component which is Apples web rendering engine. In other words, WebKit is the browser engine that...

Warning issued over vulnerability in cardiac device monitoring software

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has issued a warning about a vulnerability that could result in remote code execution or a denial-of-service DoS condition impacting a healthcare delivery organizations Paceart Optima system. Paceart Optima is a software application that...

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...

A week in security (March 20 - 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: How to avoid potentially unwanted programs "ViLE" members posed as police officers and extorted victims Google reveals 18 chip vulnerabilities threatening mobile, wearables, vehicles A look at a Magecart skimmer using the Hunter obfuscator The NBA tells fans about...

Analyzing and remediating a malware infested T95 TV box from Amazon

A couple of weeks ago, security news outlets made their rounds reporting on an Android TV box available on Amazon that came pre-installed with malware. The findings came from a Canadian developer, Daniel Milisic, who posted on his GitHub. What Daniel found was an Android T95 TV box infected with...

Riot Games compromised, new releases and patches halted

Popular game developer Riot Games brings word of a system compromise which may cause issues for updates to well known titles, although for the time being it seems as though customer data isn't affected. A social engineering development Making the notification via Twitter late last week, were stil...

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...

NSO Group spyware found on iPhones of US State Department employees

iPhones of at least nine US State Department employees are said to have been hacked using the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli technology company, NSO Group. Pegasus is a proprietary and sophisticated spyware capable of the remote surveillance of smartphones. The employees targeted by an...

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...

A week in security (Oct 25 – Oct 31)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Beyond the VPN: Ultimate online privacy with the Tor Project’s Isabela Bagueros: Lock and Code S02E20 Patch now to bypass Firefox add-ons that abuse the proxy API to deny updates How social media mistakes can impact cybersecurity Update now! Apple patches bugs in iO...

Check your passwords! Synology NAS devices under attack from StealthWorker

Synology PSIRT Product Security Incident Response Team has put out a warning that it has recently seen and received reports about an increase in brute-force attacks against Synology devices. PSIRT suspects the botnet commonly known as StealthWorker is responsible for this increase in activity...