FCC wants cars to make life harder for stalkers

Most new model cars are not just cars anymore. With multiple digital systems, vehicles are increasingly plugged into web applications and digital processes. Some of them are basically smartphones on wheels. Even if we assume these new features were all created with your convenience in mind, some ...

Atomic Stealer distributed to Mac users via fake browser updates

Atomic Stealer, also known as AMOS, is a popular stealer for Mac OS. Back in September, we described how malicious ads were tricking victims into downloading this piece of malware under the disguise of a popular application. In an interesting new development, AMOS is now being delivered to Mac...

Scattered Spider ransomware gang falls under government agency scrutiny

As you may have read in our November Ransomware Review, Scattered Spider is a relatively new, albeit dangerous, ransomware gang who made headlines in September for attacking MGM Resorts and Caesar Entertainment. For small security teams, one of the most important findings about the group is their...

Ransomware group claims it's "compromised all of Sony systems"

Newcomer ransomware group RansomedVC claims to have successfully compromised the computer systems of entertainment giant Sony. As ransomware gangs do, it made the announcement on its dark web website, where it sells data that it's stolen from victims' computer networks. The announcement says Sony...

X wants your biometric data

Users of X formerly Twitter paying for a checkmark under what used to be called Twitter Blue now X Premium have some biometric related decisions to make. The BBC reports that Elon Musk, having dismantled the old checkmark system to replace it with the all new Premium, is reintroducing identity...

Malwarebytes acquires Cyrus Security

Today, I am absolutely thrilled to share some exciting news: Malwarebytes is officially welcoming Cyrus Security into our family. This acquisition signifies an exciting chapter in our journey, and I wanted to share why this development is so special, and what it means for the millions who trust...

YouTube makes sweeping changes to tackle spam on Shorts videos

YouTube is rolling out unclickable links. Video portals like YouTube have had to deal with spam comments and bogus links for many years. With new additions to a platform come new places for scammers to go about their business. YouTube is now cracking down on links posted to the comments section o...

Public companies must now disclose breaches within 4 days

Public organisations in the US impacted by a cyberattack will now have to disclose it within four days…with some caveats attached. On Wednesday, new rules were approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC. These rules mean that publicly traded companies will need to reveal said attac...

Of sharks, surveillance, and spied-on emails: This is Section 702, with Matthew Guariglia

In the United States, when the police want to conduct a search on a suspected criminal, they must first obtain a search warrant. It is one of the foundational rights given to US persons under the Constitution, and a concept that has helped create the very idea of a right to privacy at home and...

Why businesses need a disinformation defense plan, with Lisa Kaplan: Lock and Code S04E13

When you think about the word "cyberthreat," what first comes to mind? Is it ransomware? Is it spyware? Maybe it's any collection of the infamous viruses, worms, Trojans, and botnets that have crippled countless companies throughout modern history. In the future, though, what many businesses migh...

Fake security researchers push malware files on GitHub

Researchers from VulnCheck have observed a campaign using real security researchers as bait for malware. The campaign goes to some lengths to appear genuine, using fake profiles, downloads, websites, and bogus GitHub profiles, to paint a convincing picture of security professionals offering up...

Former TikTok exec: Chinese Communist Party had "God mode" entry to US data

A former executive at TikToks parent company ByteDance has claimed in court documents that the Chinese Communist Party CCP had access to TikTok data, despite the data being stored in the US. The allegations were made in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit which was filed in May in the San Francisco...

Warning: Victims' faces placed on explicit images in sextortion scam

The FBI has issued a warning about criminals digitally manipulating people's faces on to pornographic images--known as deepfaking--and then using those images to harass or extort money out of their victim in a practice known as sextortion. The FBI said the victims include children. From the...

Ransomware attack hits ANOTHER school

In what is likely Vice Society's handiwork, the UK's largest state boarding school Wymondham College has announced it has become the victim of a "sophisticated cyberattack". The school didn't provide additional information, but Jonathan Taylor, chief of the school's parent company Sapientia...

T-Mobile reports data theft of 37 million customers in the US

T-Mobile has announced that an attacker has accessed "limited types of information" on customers. It says it is informing impacted customers. According to the press release, no passwords, payment card information, social security numbers, government ID numbers or other financial account informati...

Credit card fraud group member could get up to 30 years in jail

Card fraud, a staple diet of scammers online, is currently featuring heavily on the US Department of Justice portal. The reason? A story which has rumbled on for a few years finally seems to be pulling into its final destination, as a man admits his role in a slice of fraud which impacted thousan...

The pitfalls of blocking IP addresses

In August 2022, the Austrian court ordered the block of 11 IP addresses for copyright violations on 14 websites. Sadly, there was an undesirable side-effect--thousands of websites were rendered inaccessible to internet users in Austria for two days. There are many possible reasons why governments...

A week in security (December 12 - 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Indiana sues TikTok, describes it as "Chinese Trojan Horse" Iranian hacking group uses compromised email accounts to distribute MSP remote access tool Electronic Sales Suppression Tools are cooking the books Silence is golden partner for Truebot and Cl0p ransomware...

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...

Romance scammer deepfakes Mark Ruffalo to con elderly artist

Deepfakes have settled into a groove, as most scam techniques do. It seems most deepfakers have decided to make as much cash as possible from unsuspecting victims instead of doing anything particularly earth-shattering with their technology. One curious twist we may not have seen coming is the...

Why (almost) everything we told you about passwords was wrong

I have an embarrassing confession to make: I reuse passwords. I am not proud of it, but honestly its a relief to finally get it off my chest. I am not a heavy re-user, nothing crazy, I use a password manager to handle most of my credentials but I still reuse the odd password from time to time. It...

EDR vs MDR vs XDR – What’s the Difference?

Cyberattacks are rapidly evolving, leaving businesses and their IT security teams to handle immense workloads. Keeping up with todays cyberthreats not only involves staying up to date in an ever-changing threat landscape, it also involves managing complex security infrastructure and technologies...

A week in security (August 29 - September 4)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Twilio data breach turns out to be more elaborate than suspected Playing Doom on a John Deere tractor with Sick Codes: Lock and Code S03E18 Chromium browsers can write to the system clipboard without your permission British Airways customers targeted in lost luggag...

Introducing Patch Management for OneView

We're thrilled to announce our Patch Management module for OneView, which is paired alongside our Vulnerability Assessment module to help you uncover vulnerabilities, respond to threats, and keep your customers productive and safe. Vulnerability identification and system patching are critical to...

Cryptojackers growing in numbers and sophistication

With rising energy costs and increased volatility in the value of cryptocurrencies, we were bound to see a rise in malicious cryptomining, aka cryptojacking. If you dont know whether you will ever see a return on your investments in mining equipment, one will look for other opportunities. But if...

$6 million heist targets video game skin trading site

An incredibly popular digital item trading site has suffered a spectacular loss at the hands of wily attackers. According to Bleeping Computer, CS Money lost out on $6 million via just 20,000 pilfered items. How did this happen, and why are digital items so popular in the first place? The digitiz...

Wrestling star Mick Foley’s Twitter compromised, selling PS5 consoles

One of the biggest wrestling stars around, Mick Foley, had his Twitter account hijacked in an attempt to legitimize a very popular scam. When a well known individual has their social media accounts compromised, disaster looms, as everything from phishing to malware distribution waits in the wings...

A week in security (July 25 – July 31)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Update Google Chrome now! New version includes 11 important security patches Lightning Framework, modular Linux malware Malware spent months hoovering up credit card details from 300 US restaurants Lock down your Neopets account: Data breach being investigated Demo...

Criminals are applying for remote work using deepfake and stolen identities, says FBI

The FBI has warned businesses of an uptick in reports of criminals applying for remote work using deepfake and stolen PII personally identifiable information. A deepfake is essentially created or modified media image, video, or audio, often with the help of artificial intelligence AI and machine...

You only have nine months to ditch Exchange Server 2013

Microsoft has posted a reminder that Exchange Server 2013 reaches End of Support EoS on April 11, 2023. Thats a little more than 9 months from now. A useful and timely reminder, since we all realize that it takes some time to migrate to a different system. Every Windows product has a lifecycle. T...

A week in security (June 20 – June 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: LinkedIn scams are a "significant threat", warns FBI DDoS-for-hire service provider jailed Internet Safety Month: 7 tips for staying safe online while on vacation Client-side Magecart attacks still around, but more covert Security vulnerabilities: 5 times that...

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,...

Is quantum teleportation the future of secure communications?

“Beam me up Scotty” will always remain my first association with teleportation. And as it stands now, we are still a long way from teleporting matter, but the teleportation of information has recently made a huge step forward. Researchers in Delft say they have succeeded in teleporting quantum...

Why MRG-Effitas matters to SMBs

When selecting the right cybersecurity vendor to protect their operations, small- and medium-sized businesses SMBs can lean on several third-party research organizations that analyze which cybersecurity products can best prevent, detect, and clean up various types of cyberattacks today. But these...

Elon Musk-themed cryptocurrency scam uses fake Medium as the promotion site

So Elon Musk is buying Twitter, and you can be sure that scammers are making the most of this news. As Elon Musk spends most of the week in the headlines, so pop up Elon Musk-themed scams—and it looks like they may be ramping up. We witnessed a flurry of replies from the man himself in response t...

Why software has so many vulnerabilities, with Tanya Janca: Lock and Code S03E09

Less than one year ago, the worst ransomware attack in history struck dozens of organizations. Threat actors had exploited a serious flaw in the remote monitoring and management tool Kaseya VSA that, when discussed on the Lock and Code podcast, was revealed to be "not advanced at all." This was f...

A week in security (March 21 – 27)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Anti-war open-source software developer targets Russians and Belarussians with “protestware” Elden Ring exploit traps players in infinite death loop Update now! Many HP printers affected by three critical security vulnerabilities White House urges US businesses:...

US senators introduce the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

US Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee have introduced the Kids Online Safety Act KOSA, legislation that aims to enhance childrens safety online. This follows the The Wall Street Journal WSJs reporting on the harm Instagram can inflict on teens, which was...

Twitter cans 2FA service provider over surveillance claims

Twitter is transitioning away from from its two-factor authentication 2FA provider, Mitto AG, a Swiss communications company. The social media giant broke the news to US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. It is noted that Twitters decision to move away from Mitto AG came after allegations that its...

A worrying Etsy listing reveals the stalking potential of Apple’s AirTags

In April of 2021, Apple introduced AirTags to the world, making the small tracking devices—similar to a Tile— available for purchase at the end of that month. The circular, coin-like product is designed to be attached to or placed in objects that are commonly lost, such as keychains, wallets,...

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...

Protect yourself from BlackMatter ransomware: Advice issued

Despite promises made by the BlackMatter ransomware gang about which organizations and business types they would avoid, multiple US critical infrastructure entities have been targeted. Now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, in conjunction with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security...

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...

What are computer cookies?

We all know cookies as tasty baked treats that we love to eat, but computer cookies are quite different. Although they’re most popularly known as just "cookies", they may be referred to as browser cookies, Internet cookies, HTTP cookies, web cookies, computer cookies, or digital cookies. What are...

How to stay secure from ransomware attacks this Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend is just around the corner and, believe it or not, cybercriminals are likely just as excited as you are! Ransomware gangs have nurtured a nasty habit of starting their attacks at the least convenient times: When computers are idle, when employees who might notice a problem are ou...

Mice “taking over the world!”, one Windows machine at a time

Famously, Pinky and the Brain were a pair of animated mice that wanted to take over the world. Of course they never succeed, but maybe they just set their sights too high. Because while mice may not be taking over the world yet, they are taking over computers. In the last week, security researche...

Shining a light on dark patterns with Carey Parker: Lock and Code S02E09

This week on Lock and Code, we speak to cybersecurity advocate and author Carey Parker about "dark patterns," which are subtle tricks online to get you to make choices that might actually harm you. Dark patterns have been around for years, and the tricks theyre based on are even older. Ever bough...

Get a head start on defending against tax scams

It may not be tax season in your part of the world right now but you’ll no doubt be pleased to know a prolific tax scammer is on their way to jail for 20 years. If you’re annoyed by tax scam missives, or had the misfortune to hand money over, this is probably satisfying news. Between 2013 and 201...

Apple security hampers detection of unwanted programs

Anyone who uses Malwarebytes software is probably familiar with the fact that, in addition to things like malware and adware, Malwarebytes detects potentially unwanted programs PUPs. These are programs that exhibit a variety of unsavory behaviors, but that, for legal reasons, cannot be called...

Scammers are spoofing bank phone numbers to rob victims

It can be a very convincing trick… “You can check the number in your display online sir. You’ll see I’m really calling from your bank.” That is, of course, if you are unaware that phone numbers can be spoofed. Then again, they wouldn’t be successful scammers if they weren’t convincing. If you...