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...

SMS authentication code includes ad: a very bad idea

SMS authentication codes are back in the news, and the word Id use to summarise their reappearance is "embattled." I can still remember a time where two-factor authentication 2FA, authentication grids, regional lockouts, Yubikeys, and offline authentication apps simply did not exist. And if they...

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...

New steganography attack targets Azerbaijan

This blog post was authored by Hossein Jazi Threat actors often vary their techniques to thwart security defenses and increase the efficiency of their attacks. One of the tricks they use is known as steganography and consists of hiding content within images. We recently observed a malicious Word...

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...

Coronavirus campaigns lead to surge in malware threats, Labs report finds

In the first three months of 2020, as the world clamped down to limit coronavirus, cyber threats ramped up. Our latest, special edition for our quarterly CTNT report focuses on recent, increased malware threats which all have one, big thing in common—using coronavirus as a lure. Our report,...

A week in security (May 11 – May 17)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we explained why RevenueWire has to pay $6.7 million to settle FTC charges, how CVSS works: characterizing and scoring vulnerabilities, and we talked about how and why hackers hit a major law firm with Sodinokibi ransomware. We also launched another episode of our...

Criminals hack Tupperware website with credit card skimmer

Update 2: A spokesperson for Tupperware has given a public statement to Alex Scroxton, Security Editor at ComputerWeekly. You can read it here. Update: Following our blog post, we continued to monitor the Tupperware website. As of 03/25 at 1:45 PM PT, we noticed that the malicious PNG file had be...

A week in security (March 2 – 8)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we fired up part 1 of our series on child identity theft, asked how well law enforcement can deal with cybercriminals, and took a trip down the memory lane of moral panic. We also looked at the positives and negatives of VPNs and examined our own progress in the...

Technology and the power of moral panic

Moral panic is a fascinating topic, and often finds itself tied up in the cutting edge-technology of the times once it works its way into the hands of younger generations. Music, games, movies—pretty much anything you can think of is liable to gatecrash the “won’t somebody think of the children?”...

Securing the MSP: why they’re their own worst enemy

We've previously discussed threats to managed service providers MSPs, covering their status as a valuable secondary target to both an assortment of APT groups as well as financially motivated threat groups. The problem with covering new and novel attack vectors, however, is that behind each new...

‘Data as property’ promises fix for privacy problems, but could deepen inequality

In mid-November, Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang unveiled a four-prong policy approach to solving some of today’s thornier tech issues, such as widespread misinformation, technology dependence, and data privacy. Americans, Yang proposed, should receive certain, guaranteed protections...

100 channels and nothing on, except TV Licensing phishes

We’ve seen a lot of people referencing fake TV Licensing emails they’ve received over the last few days. The majority so far appear to be fake refund notices, asking potential victims to log in to a phony TV License website and provide payment details for refunds. It's definitely keeping customer...

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...

A week in security (May 14 – May 20)

Last week, we looked at the deluge of incoming policies caused by GDPR, tackled Adobe Reader zero days, and ran through some iPhone security tips. We also caught some helpline scammers in the act, explored advergaming, got our Senate Bill game face on, and deep dived into Drupal vulnerabilities...

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...

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...

Phony WhatsApp used Unicode to slip under Google’s radar

After a troubling week for Google not so long ago, the company is under the spotlight once more for missing another app that, after further investigations by several members of Reddit, was found laden with adware. This app, which was called "Update WhatsApp Messenger," used the logo and developer...

A look into the global drive-by cryptocurrency mining phenomenon

An important milestone in the history of cryptomining happened around mid-September when a company called Coinhive launched a service that could mine for a digital currency known as Monero directly within a web browser. JavaScript-based mining is cross-platform compatible and works on all modern...

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...

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...

OpenAI explains how its AI agent breached Hugging Face

On July 28, OpenAI published an update on the agent that escaped its sandbox and hacked into Hugging Face during an internal cybersecurity evaluation. In the update, OpenAI reiterates that the “rogue” system was a more capable, pre‑release research model, not something intended for public...

Fake games spread stealers with RenPy Loader, MSBuild and EtherHiding

We have detected several campaigns using fake downloads of games, mods, cracks, and software to spread RenPy Loader. Once installed, the loader starts a complex, multi-stage infection chain that abuses MSBuild and the EtherHiding technique before ultimately delivering Amatera Stealer. Amatera is ...

Americans lost nearly $900 million to AI-powered scams, FBI says

The 2025 Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Internet Crime Report shows that Americans reported $893,346,472 in AI‑related scam losses. Those losses stem from 22,364 AI-related complaints. And these figures represent only the reported losses, which may well be the proverbial tip of the iceberg...

Fake Claude search results lure Mac users into ClickFix attack

Researchers found that cybercriminals are using sponsored search results and shared Claude chats to lure victims into a typical ClickFix attack to install malware on macOS devices. ClickFix is a social engineering method that tricks users into infecting their own device with malware. Users are...

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...

US residents targeted by utility scammers on Google

Back in February, we reported on malicious ads related to utility bills electricity, gas that direct victims to call centers where scammers will collect their identity and try to extort money from them. A few months later, we checked and were able to find as many Google ads as before, following...

Beware of scammers impersonating Malwarebytes

Scammers love to bank on the good name of legitimate companies to gain the trust of their intended targets. Recently, it came to our attention that a cybercriminal is using fake websites for security products to spread malware. One of those websites was impersonating the Malwarebytes brand. Image...

Financial institutions ordered to notify customers after a breach, have an incident response plan

The Securities and Exchange Commission SEC has announced rules around breaches for certain financial institutions—registered broker-dealers, investment companies, investment advisers, and transfer agents— that require them to have written incident response policies and procedures that can be used...

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...

A week in security (April 29 – May 5)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: You get a passkey, you get a passkey, everyone should get a passkey Dropbox Sign customer data accessed in breach Watch out for tech support scams lurking in sponsored search results Psychotherapy practice hacker gets jail time after extorting patients, publishing...

Stopping a targeted attack on a Managed Service Provider (MSP) with ThreatDown MDR

In late January 2024, the ThreatDown Managed Detection and Response MDR team found and stopped a three-month long malware campaign against a Managed Service Provider MSP based in Europe. In line with our observations of attackers increasingly relying on legitimate software in their attacks, the...

Change Healthcare outages reportedly caused by ransomware

On Wednesday February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare—a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group—experienced serious system outages due to a cyberattack. In a Form 8-K filing the company said it: “identified a suspected nation-state associated cyber security threat actor had gained access to some of the Chan...

How to make a fake ID online, with Joseph Cox: Lock and Code S05E05

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… For decades, fake IDs had roughly three purposes: Buying booze before legally allowed, getting into age-restricted clubs, and, we can only assume, completing nation-state spycraft for embedded informants and double agents. In 2024, thats changed, as the use...

Free access to ThreatDown Application Block: Elevate your Windows security at no cost

Malwarebytes continues to add value to its ThreatDown Bundles with the inclusion of Application Block as free for all ThreatDown Nebula accounts excluding Mobile only accounts. Users dont need to activate this new feature: the policy has been enabled in their account by default. For as many...

AirTags stalking lawsuit alleges Apple’s negligence in protecting victims

Each year, an estimated 13.5 million people in the US are victim to stalking. This is a worrying fact stated in the introduction of a lawsuit against Apple brought by stalking victims who charge that AirTags empowered their abusers. AirTags are marketed as trackers that allow you to easily find...

A week in security (December 18 – December 24)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Comcast’s Xfinity breached by Citrix Bleed; 36 million customer’s data accessed How does ThreatDown Vulnerability Assessment and Patch Management work? How Outlook notification sounds can lead to zero-click exploits Update Chrome now! Emergency update patches...

Okta breach happened after employee logged into personal Google account

Okta has revealed details about a recent breach which exposed files belonging to customers. As we explained in our article about 1Password being a victim of this breach, it’s normal for Okta support to ask customers to upload a file known as an HTTP Archive HAR file. Having this file allows the...

Ransomware reinfections on the rise from improper remediation

Attack. Remediate. Repeat? Speak to any organization infiltrated by ransomware--the most dangerous malware in the world--and theyll be blunt: Theyd do anything to avoid getting hit twice. But ransomware attacks have been ramping up in 2023 and reinfections are occurring all over the globe, forcin...

Uncovering RedStinger - Undetected APT cyber operations in Eastern Europe since 2020

This blog post was authored by Malwarebytes' Roberto Santos and Fortinet's Hossein Jazi While the official conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022, there is a long history of physical conflict between the two nations, including the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and when t...

Is AI being used for virtual kidnapping scams?

You may have seen a worrying report of Artificial Intelligence AI being used in a virtual kidnapping scam. The AI was supposedly used to imitate the voice of an Arizona resident's daughter, who claimed to have been kidnapped. The daughter was safe and well elsewhere on a school trip. Unfortunatel...

"2.6 million DuoLingo account entries" up for sale

Not a week goes by where we dont see an example of data scraping causing concern for both business and folks at home. The latest target happens to be popular language platform DuoLingo, who is currently digging into a forum post concerning data related to its customer accounts. Scraping data for...

Update now! NetGear routers’ default configuration allows remote attacks

NetGear has made a hotfix available for its Nighthawk routers after researchers found a network misconfiguration in the firmware allowed unrestricted communication with the internet facing ports of the device listening through IPv6. No auto-update The hotfix is available for the model RAX30, also...

Thermal cameras could help reveal your password

Thermal imaging cameras detect heat energy, a helpful tool for engineers when hunting for thermal insulation gaps in buildings. But did you know that such devices can now aid in password theft? Because these devices are sold a lot cheaper than they used to, pretty much anyone can get their hands ...

Exchange servers abused for spam through malicious OAuth applications

Microsoft has published a security blog about an investigation into an attack in which threat actors used malicious OAuth applications to abuse Exchange servers for their spam campaign. The threat actor behind this attack has been active for many years, and has been running spam campaigns using...

Adware found on Google Play — PDF Reader serving up full screen ads

A PDF reader found on Google Play with over one million downloads is aggressively displaying full screen ads, even when the app is not in use. More specifically, the reader is known as PDF reader - documents viewer, package name com.document.pdf.viewer. As a result, this aggressive behavior lands...

Ransomware Task Force priorities see progress in first year

This blog is part of our live coverage from RSA Conference 2022: US President Joseph R. Biden Jr., The White House, and law enforcement agencies across the world paid close attention last year when a group of more than 60 cybersecurity experts launched the Ransomware Task Force, heeding the group...

How to remove Google from your life

Swearing off a company used to be easier. Rude customer service, an unfortunate bout of food poisoning, even standing up for workers’ rights against the alleged involvement of a private company to order a country’s military to brutally quash a strike—almost every facet of an individual boycott...

How to share your Wi-Fi password safely

You may not have as many people visiting your home due to the pandemic, but restrictions are a hit-and-miss affair. Its possible your region has opened up a little, and youre seeing folks in your home for the first time in a long time. They may well be bringing new devices to your home, and you m...

Logistics giant warns of scams following ransomware attack

German logistics giant Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has issued a warning that data was stolen from the company when it was hit with a ransomware attack on December 9, 2021. It is not entirely clear what type of data was extracted, but the company says it is warning partners and customers to doubl...