RegretLocker, new ransomware, can encrypt Windows virtual hard disks

Cybersecurity researchers discovered a new ransomware last month called RegretLocker that, despite a no-frills package, can do serious damage to virtual hard disks on Windows machines. Through a clever trick, RegretLocker can bypass the often-long encryption times required when encrypting a...

How Covid fatigue puts your physical and digital health in jeopardy

After six months of social distancing, sheltering in place, working from home, distance learning, mask-wearing, hand-washing, and plenty of hand-wringing, people are pretty damn tired of COVID-19. And with no magic bullet yet and no end in sight, annoyance has turned into exasperation and even...

Facial recognition: tech giants take a step back

Last week, a few major tech companies informed the public that they will not provide facial recognition software to law enforcement. These companies are concerned about the way in which their technology might be used. What happens when software that threatens our privacy falls into the hands of...

A brief history of video game saves and data modification

Games consoles and handhelds have always been an interesting battleground for hacking activities. The homebrew scene for using hardware in interesting ways has a long and varied history, especially where porting games to run on different platforms is concerned. Tampering with games while playing...

Lock and Code S1Ep7: Sounding the trumpet on web browser privacy with Pieter Arntz

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 Pieter Arntz, malware intelligence researcher at Malwarebytes, about web browser privacy—an often neglected subcategory of data privacy. Without the prop...

A week in security (January 6 – 12)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we told readers how to check the safety of websites and their related files, explored the shady behavior taking place within the billion-dollar search industry, broke down the top six ways that hackers target retail businesses, and put a spotlight on the ransomware...

Sextortion scammers getting creative

We've covered sextortion before, focusing in on how the core of the threat is an exercise in trust. The threat actor behind the campaign will use whatever information available on the target that causes them to trust that the threat actor does indeed have incriminating information on them. They...

Making the case: How to get the board to invest in higher education cybersecurity

Security leaders in institutions of higher education face unique challenges, as they are charged with keeping data and the network secure, while also allowing for a culture of openness, sharing, and communication—all cornerstones of the academic community. And depending on the college or...

A week in security (April 15 – 21)

Last week, Malwarebytes Labs revealed multiple giveaway online scam campaigns banking on the popularity and generosity of Ellen DeGeneres, weighed in on the hack that compromised legacy Microsoft email service accounts like Hotmail and MSN, explained what “like-farming” means and how to spot it o...

A week in security (April 1 – 7)

Last week, Malwarebytes Labs took readers on a brief tour of some of the world's most notable data privacy laws, explored how gamers can protect themselves against cyberthreats, and offered thoughts about the reports that a 23-year-old Chinese woman gained access to President Donald Trump’s...

Back to school cybersecurity: hints, tips, and links for a safer school year

It's that time of year again when parents are slowly gearing up for a new school term. Some schools have a strict policy of only using their own pre-approved lab devices, while others allow students to bring their own devices. Whatever the plan, it's never too early to start thinking about some o...

Twitter security snafu: change your passwords

If you're logging into Twitter after having been AWOL for a day or two, you'll likely be seeing one of these pop-ups talking about account security: Click to enlarge Don't panic, it's nothing that can't be fixed. The message reads as follows: Keeping your account secure When you set a password fo...

A week in security (October 30 – November 5)

Last week on our blog, we told you what to expect at the upcoming Irisscon security conference in Dublin. We gave you a quick introduction into the why and how of analyzing malware based on their API calls. And we issued a warning about some lesser-known cybercrimes. Plus we explained why emergin...

Deloitte breached by hackers for months

On September 25, 2017, Deloitte announced that they detected a breach of the firm’s global email server via a poorly secured admin email in March of this year. Further, the attackers most likely had control of the server since November of 2016. Deloitte’s initial statement indicated that only six...

Crowdsourced fraud and kickstarted scams

Crowdsourced funding opportunities via Kickstarter, Patreon, and GoFundMe have removed many structural roadblocks for people to access capital quickly and conveniently. But they’ve also lowered the barrier to entry for many very old scams. So how do you tell the difference between a great cause o...

Fake CleanMyMac site installs SHub Stealer and backdoors crypto wallets

A convincing fake version of the popular Mac utility CleanMyMac is tricking users into installing malware. The site instructs visitors to paste a command into Terminal. If they do, it installs SHub Stealer, macOS malware designed to steal sensitive data including saved passwords, browser data,...

Update your Chrome to fix serious actively exploited vulnerability

Google released an emergency update for the Chrome browser to patch an actively exploited vulnerability that could have serious ramifications. The update brings the Stable channel to versions 136.0.7103.113/.114 for Windows and Mac and 136.0.7103.113 for Linux. The easiest way to update Chrome is...

Update now! Apple confirms vulnerabilities are already being exploited

Apple has released security patches for most of its operating systems, including iOS, Mac, iPadOS, Safari, and visionOS. The updates for iOS and Intel-based Mac systems are especially important, as they tackle vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited by cybercriminals. You should make su...

Unauthorized data access vulnerability in macOS is detailed by Microsoft

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence team disclosed details about a macOS vulnerability, dubbed "HM Surf," that could allow an attacker to gain access to the user’s data in Safari. The data the attacker could access without users’ consent includes browsed pages, along with the device’s camera,...

Affirm says Evolve Bank data breach also compromised some of its customers

Buy now, pay later payment specialist Affirm has warned that holders of its payment cards had their personal information exposed after a ransomware attack and data breach at Evolve Bank & Trust. In a form 8-K, submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, Affirm states: “Because the...

TEMU sued for being “dangerous malware” by Arkansas Attorney General

Chinese online shopping giant Temu is facing a lawsuit filed by State of Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, alleging that the retailers mobile app spies on users. “Temu purports to be an online shopping platform, but it is dangerous malware, surreptitiously granting itself access to virtually...

Was T-Mobile compromised by a zero-day in Jira?

A moderator of the notorious data breach trading platform BreachForums is offering data for sale they claim comes from a data breach at T-Mobile. The moderator, going by the name of IntelBroker, describes the data as containing source code, SQL files, images, Terraform data, t-mobile.com...

Why car location tracking needs an overhaul

Across America, survivors of domestic abuse and stalking are facing a unique location tracking crisis born out of policy failure, unclear corporate responsibility, and potentially risky behaviors around digital sharing that are now common in relationships. No, we’re not talking about stalkerware...

PikaBot malware on the rise: What organizations need to know

A new type of malware is being used by ransomware gangs in their attacks, and its name is PikaBot. A relatively new trojan that emerged in early 2023, PikaBot is the apparent successor to the infamous QakBot QBot trojan that was shut down in August 2023. QBot was used by many ransomware gangs in...

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...

[updated] Vibrator virus steals your personal information

I know that some of you are expecting a post similar to that about a toothbrush botnet, but this is not a hypothetical case. It actually happened. A Malwarebytes Premium customer started a thread on Reddit saying we had blocked malware from trying to infect their computer after they connected a...

Nitrogen shelling malware from hacked sites

Nitrogen is the name given to a campaign and associated malware that have been distributed via malicious search ads. Its signature move is using Python and DLL side-loading to connect to the attackers command and control server. In this blog post, we look at a recent Nitrogen campaign and...

ThreatDown earns highest ratings across EDR and MDR categories in G2 Winter 2024 results

The peer-to-peer review source G2 has released its Winter 2024 reports, ranking ThreatDown products on top across several Endpoint Detection and Response EDR and Managed Detection and Response MDR categories. Based on verified customer reviews, ThreatDown EDR was voted a Leader in the overall and...

Update now! Chrome fixes actively exploited zero-day vulnerability

Google has released an update to Chrome which includes seven security fixes including one for a vulnerability which is known to have already been exploited. If you’re a Chrome user on Windows, Mac, or Linux, you should update as soon as possible. The easiest way to update Chrome is to set it to...

2.6 million DuoLingo users have scraped data released

An unknown party has released the scraped data of 2.6 million DuoLingo users on a hacking forum. While they offered the data set for sale in January for $1,500, it's now been released on a new version of the Breached hacking forum for 8 site credits, worth only $2.13. DuoLingo is an educational...

Solar monitoring systems exposed: Secure your devices

Researchers who go looking for devices exposed to the Internet report "tens of thousands" of solar photovoltaic PV monitoring and diagnostic systems can be found on the web. The systems are used for everything from system optimization to performance monitoring and troubleshooting. No fewer than...

Malwarebytes only vendor to win every MRG Effitas award in 2022 & 2023

MRG Effitas, a world leader in independent IT research, published their anti-malware efficacy assessment results for Q1 2023. Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection EP achieved the highest possible score 100% and received certifications for Level 1, Exploit, Online Banking, and Ransomware. These result...

Rheinmetall attacked by BlackBasta ransomware

On Friday May 19, 2023, the German arms producer Rheinmetall acknowledged a cyber-incident at one of its subsidiaries in the private sector. The BlackBasta ransomware group has already claimed responsibility for the attack through its leak-site. Entry for Rheinmetall on BlackBasta leak site...

Identity crisis: How an anti-porn crusade could jam the Internet, featuring Alec Muffett: Lock and Code S04E11

On January 1, 2023, the Internet in Louisiana looked a little different than the Internet in Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas--its next-door state neighbors. And on May 1, the Internet in Utah looked quite different, depending on where you looked, than the Internet in Arizona, or Idaho, or Nevada...

KFC, Pizza Hut owner employee data stolen in ransomware attack

Upon learning that attackers accessed and siphoned data in January, Yum! Brands, the fast-food chain operator behind The Habit Burger Grill, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, has begun sending Notice of Security Breach letters to employees whose data were potentially affected. "We are writing to...

A week in security (October 17 - 23)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Thermal cameras could help reveal your password How to spot a scam Warning: "FaceStealer" iOS and Android apps steal your Facebook login Criminal group busted after stealing hundreds of keyless cars Fake tractor fraudsters plague online transactions DeadBolt...

Calling in the ransomware negotiator, with Kurtis Minder: Lock and Code S03E20

Ransomware can send any company into crisis. Immediately following an attack, the notoriously disruptive malware can spread across networks and machines, locking up important files and rendering vital data almost useless for all employees. As we learned in a previous episode of Lock and Code, a...

Kiwi Farms breached, user data potentially exposed

The operators of a site known to most observers for being in a recent state of flux have announced a forum breach. Kiwi Farms, which gained a reputation for sophisticated trolling and doxxing, was recently dropped by Cloudflare after a sustained campaign to have the DDoS mitigation and cloud...

JSSLoader: the shellcode edition

The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team observed a malspam campaign in late June that we attribute to the FIN7 APT group. One of the samples was also reported on Twitter by Josh Trombley; during execution, it was observed to drop a secondary payload, written in .NET. Details about FIN7 campaign...

Cobalt Strikes again: UAC-0056 continues to target Ukraine in its latest campaign

This blog was authored by Roberto Santos and Hossein Jazi The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team recently reviewed a series of cyber attacks against Ukraine that we attribute with high confidence to UAC-0056 AKA UNC2589, TA471. This threat group has repeatedly targeted the government entities ...

5 ways to avoid being catfished

Today, many Americans will head out to the water—not to swim, but to catch a catfish in time for National Catfish Day. But when we talk about catfishing in cybersecurity, we mean something different. Here, catfishing refers to someone who assumes someone elses identity online in order to harass,...

Don’t panic! “Unpatchable” Mac vulnerability discovered

Researchers at MITs Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab CSAIL found an attack surface in a hardware-level security mechanism utilized in Apple M1 chips. The flaw is unpatchable, but attackers would need to chain it with other vulnerabilities to make use of the attack method. The hardwa...

How Instagram scammers talk users out of their accounts

If youve dealt with a scammer, youll know that making up stories is their bread and butter. Think about it: Just when you thought youd heard all the infamous 419 scam backstories, scammers surprise you with a "stuck astronaut" scam, something so utterly hilarious, nonsensical, and otherworldly th...

Ransomware: March 2022 review

The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team continuously monitors the threat landscape to stay on top of existing and emerging attacks. In this March 2022 ransomware review, we go over some of the most successful ransomware incidents based on both open source and dark web intelligence. The March da...

De-Googling Carey Parker’s (and your) life: Lock and Code S03E06

Three years ago, a journalist for Gizmodo named Kashmir Hill wanted to understand what life was like without "Big Tech." Far from a "digital detox" retreat—the kind of which were popular with exceedingly plugged-in, very online types of mid-20s and early-30s folks—Hills experiment with technology...

How to avoid being scammed this Valentine’s Day

With Valentines Day approaching, you can be sure that the scammers will want to take advantage of lovebirds everywhere. From romance scams and sextortion, to fake dating sites and phishing campaigns, heres how to avoid a sting in the tail this Valentines Day. Romance scams Stories of online roman...

KONNI evolves into stealthier RAT

This blog post was authored by Roberto Santos KONNI is a Remote Administration Tool that has being used for at least 8 years. The North Korean threat actor that is using this piece of malware has being identified under the Kimsuky umbrella. This group has been very busy, attacking political...

Ransomware targets Edge users

Unless youve been hiding under a rock for the last twenty years, youve probably heard the one about "keeping your software up to date". Applying software updates promptly is arguably the single most useful thing you can do to keep yourself secure online, and vendors, experts, pundits, and blogs...

Update now! Mozilla fixes security vulnerabilities in Firefox 94

In a security advisory, Mozillas announced that several security issues in its Firefox browser have been fixed. Several of these vulnerabilities were listed as having a high impact. Publicly disclosed computer security flaws are listed in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE database. Its...

Freedom Hosting operator gets 27 years for hosting Dark Web child abuse sites

The wheels of justice have turned, if perhaps a bit slower than you may have expected. A Dublin resident, Eric Eoin Marques, has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison. The reason is the frankly terrifying tally of child sexual abuse material CSAM he helped to distribute. Eoin helped to mak...