iPhone 15 launch: Wonderlust scammers rear their heads

Yesterday, Apple launched its latest iPhone and Watch models at its massive Wonderlust event. As with many high profile launches like this, it attracted not just a mountain of press, but a whole load of scammers too. One site uses the Apple brand to host a cryptocurrency scam. The hook is a...

Mac users targeted in new malvertising campaign delivering Atomic Stealer

Summary Malicious ads for Google searches are targeting Mac users Phishing sites trick victims into downloading what they believe is the app they want The malware is bundled in an ad-hoc signed app so it cannot be revoked by Apple The payload is a new version of the recent Atomic Stealer for OSX...

Malvertisers up their game against researchers

Threat actors constantly take notice of the work and takedown efforts initiated by security researchers. In this constant game of cat and mouse chasing, tactics and techniques keep evolving from simple to more complex, and more covert. This is a trend we have observed time and time again, no matt...

25 most popular websites vs Malwarebytes Browser Guard

Do you know how many see-everything-you're-doing-on-the-web trackers get loaded into your browser when you watch a YouTube video? Would you care to guess? It's about sixty. Sixty. Six zero. Sixty trackers when you load one video. I know this because I decided to take Browser Guard, the...

New Security Advisor amps up security in minutes

Malwarebytes Security Advisor, a transformation of the Nebula customer experience, enables organizations to visualize and improve their organization's security posture in just a few minutes. "If youre not fully configured, you arent fully protected," says Jonny Rivera, Director, Customer Experien...

Malwarebytes stops 100% of Advanced Threats in latest AV-Test assessment

AV-TEST, a leading independent tester of cybersecurity solutions, has just given Malwarebytes two Advanced awards for the ability of our consumer and business products to protect against the latest attack techniques. Lets take a deeper dive into the test and the results. Advanced Threat Protectio...

Malicious ad for USPS fishes for banking credentials

We often think of malvertising as being malicious ads that push malware or scams, and quite rightly so these are probably the most common payloads. However, malvertising is also a great vehicle for phishing attacks which we usually see more often via spam emails. Threat actors continue to abuse a...

Software company accused of illegally profiling millions of mobile phone users

A digital rights and privacy organization has filed a complaint against software company TeleSign for gathering and selling information on millions of mobile phone users. The organization that filed the complaint is nyob. nyob is an Austrian based digital right organization that focusses on...

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...

How to keep your ChatGPT conversations out of its training data

Last week, OpenAI announced it had given ChatGPT users the option to turn off their chat history. ChatGPT is a "generative AI", a machine learning algorithm that can understand language and generate written responses. Users can interact with it by asking questions, and the conversations users hav...

LockBit and Cl0p ransomware gangs actively exploiting Papercut vulnerabilities

A few days ago we wrote about two vulnerabilities found in PaperCut application servers. As we noted, exploitation was fairly simple so there was some urgency to install the patches. My esteemed colleague Chris Boyd literally wrote: "Arbitrary code can be deployed, or even ransomware if thats par...

Avoid this "lost injured dog" Facebook hoax

Facebook users are advised to be wary of posts involving injured dogs receiving treatment at a vet surgery, or pets sitting next to people post-operation adorned with bandages and plaster casts. The dog-themed missives all follow a similar format, with the primary change between them being the...

WhatsApp introduces new security features

WhatsApp has announced several new security features which include an extra check when an account is transferred to a new device. This check asks that users confirm the transfer on their old device. This should warn users in case there is a transfer in progress started by somebody trying to hijac...

Google Pay accidentally handed out free money, bug now fixed

Days ago, several Google Pay users in the US received some unexpected cashback from Google, congratulating them "for dogfooding the Google Pay Remittance experience". Confused and a tad happy, some looked to Twitter for answers, while others aired their experiences on the /r/googlepay/ Reddit pag...

"BingBang" flaw enabled altering of Bing search results, account takeover

Researchers from Wiz have discovered a way to allow for search engine manipulation and account takeover. The research in question focuses on several Microsoft applications, with everything stemming from a new type of attack aimed at Azure Active Directory. Azure Active Directory is a single sign-...

Investment fraud overtakes business email compromise as most reported fraud

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has published its 2022 Internet Crime Report. One of the most notable points is that investment fraud has now overtaken business email compromise BEC as the most reported and most damaging type of fraud. The numbers are based on the complaints reported to t...

AI voice cracks telephone banking voice recognition

Voice ID is slowly rolling out across various banks worldwide as a way to perform user authentication over the phone. However, questions remain about just how secure it is. Now that we have freely available artificial intelligence AI happily replicating peoples voices, could it be a security risk...

CISA issues alert with South Korean government about DPRK's ransomware antics

CISA and other federal agencies were joined by the National Intelligence Service NIS and the Defense Security Agency of the Republic of Korea ROK in releasing the latest cybersecurity advisory in the US government's ongoing StopRansomware effort. This alert highlights continuous state-sponsored...

Stalkerware-type app developers fined by NY Attorney General

Stalkerware is a huge problem when it comes to intrusion into peoples personal lives. "Friends", strangers, family members, abusive spouses and many more can potentially dabble in this malignant pastime and cause all manner of trouble for their target. Thanks to the New York Attorney Generals...

LastPass users should move their crypto funds, experts warn

Several experts have warned LastPass users who store cryptocurrency-related login information in their vaults to change that login information as soon as they can. Apparently, cybercriminals who have access to the stolen information are making it a priority to decrypt the data in an attempt to...

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...

Play ransomware attacks city of Antwerp

The city of Antwerps digital systems have come to a grinding halt. The Flemish government under which Antwerp resides has confirmed that this is the result of a ransomware attack. The consequences for the city's inhabitants are drastic, as hundreds of city employees revert to working on paper...

CISA and the FBI issue alert about Cuba ransomware

In the latest StopRansomware effort of publicizing ransomware information for network defenders, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI have issued a joint Cybersecurity Advisory CSA on the ransomware known as "Cuba." Though named...

Raccoon Stealer admin will be extradited to the US, charged for computer crimes

The US Department of Justice has indicted a Ukrainian national for his involvement in Raccoon Stealer, a noteworthy password-stealing Trojan leased in the underground for criminals to use as part of a malware-as-a-service MaaS business model. According to court documents, Mark Sokolovsky, 26, is...

Healthcare site leaks personal health information via Google and Meta tracking pixels

Advocate Aurora Health has disclosed that by visiting its websites users may have shared personal information, and possibly protected health information PHI, with Google and Meta Facebook. Advocate Aurora Health is the 11th largest not-for-profit, integrated health system in the US and provides...

Gas, a positive social network for teens (no, really)

A new social network is currently in the news, billed as a positive space for teens to enjoy themselves. Im all for positive spaces online, but what is it, and will teens really be happier there than say Instagram, or even just hanging out in WhatsApp groups? Pump the gas Launched in August of th...

4 times students compromised school cybersecurity

For many students school can be a tough time, and we've all heard stories about bored or frustrated kids compromising school cybersecurity to change grades. Sometimes the students are celebrated, and other times it ends in them being expelled from school, or even prosecuted. Of course, these acts...

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...

Introducing Malwarebytes Cloud Storage Scanning: How to scan for malware in cloud file storage repositories

Were excited to announce Malwarebytes Cloud Storage Scanning, a new service that extends Nebula malware scanning options to include files stored on cloud storage repositories that are part of your organizations digital ecosystem. Today, the service supports scanning of files under 100Mb in size...

For months, JusTalk messages were accessible to everyone on the Internet

JusTalk, a popular mobile video calling and messaging app with 20 million global users, exposed a massive database of supposedly private messages to the public Internet for months. According to security researcher Anurag Sen, who discovered the open database, the messages were stored unencrypted,...

Lock down your Neopets account: Data breach being investigated

Bad news for players of long-time virtual pet management title Neopets. Word is spreading of a compromise claimed to have accessed around 69 million user accounts. This compromise, posted to a hacking forum, is said to include both the database and around 460 MB of compressed source code from...

Insider Threat: Employees indicted for stealing $88 million of license keys

Two insiders and an accomplice were indicted on Tuesday for multiple counts of fraud. According to documents unsealed by the Wester District of Oaklahoma, a grand jury charged Raymond Bradley Pearce aka Brad Pearce, a former employee of Avaya; Dusti O. Pearce, his wife; and Jason M. Hines aka Joe...

LGBTQ+ community targeted by extortionists who threaten to publish nudes

The FTC Federal Trade Commission has warned the LGBTQ+ community about extortionists posing as potential romantic partners on Grindr and Feeld. The scammers send their targets explicit photos and then ask for them to reciprocate. If they do, targets are then blackmailed into paying a ransom,...

Interpol’s First Light operation smashes crime on a global scale

A large-scale Interpol operation has resulted in arrested and ill-gotten gains seizures galore. Operation First Light took place between March and May of this year. It involved 76 countries taking social engineers and telecommunications fraudsters to task, with multiple wins for those involved...

A week in security (May 30 – June 5)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Intuit phish says "We have put a temporary hold on your account" The Quad commits to strengthening cybersecurity in software, supply chains Double-whammy attack follows fake Covid alert with a bogus bank call Microsoft Office zero-day "Follina"—its not a bug, its a...

Ransomware: May 2022 review

The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team monitors the threat landscape continuously and produces monthly ransomware reports based on a mixture of proprietary and open-source intelligence. Conti sleight of hand? Although LockBit remained the most widely-deployed ransomware in May 2022, it was,...

Unknown APT group has targeted Russia repeatedly since Ukraine invasion

An unknown Advanced Persistent Threat APT group has targeted Russian government entities with at least four separate spear phishing campaigns since late February, 2022. The campaigns, discovered by the Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team, are designed to implant a Remote Access Trojan RAT that...

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...

How to spot the signs of a virtual kidnap scam

Threats and bluster play a key role in most online attacks: Ransomware has its ransom note; trolls threaten to ramp up the pressure; tech support scammers insist your PC needs urgent assistance. Some take it a step further, leaning in with a more direct approach, ranging from death threats to...

Google, Apple, and Microsoft step hand in hand into a passwordless future

While we recently "celebrated" World Password Day, almost every security outlet keeps telling us that passwords alone are not enough. In practice, in the last few years this has meant pairing passwords with something else, such as a one-time code from an app or an SMS message, in a scheme called...

FBI warns food and agriculture to brace for seasonal ransomware attacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI recently released a Private Industry Notification warning agriculture cooperatives also known as "farmers co-ops" of the looming danger of well-timed ransomware attacks. The agency warns that during the critical planting and harvesting seasons, attacks coul...

Malwarebytes Evaluation of the MITRE ENGENUITY ATT&CK Round 4 Emulations

The results of the MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluation of the Wizard Spider and Sandworm adversaries were officially released1 last week. We are very proud of the Malwarebytes EDR results in the MITRE Engenuity test, which are the direct reflection of a relentless core EDR team and the learnings fr...

YouTube channels of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, and other musicians compromised

Some of the biggest stars around have seen content placed on their YouTube accounts without permission over the last couple of days. Taylor Swift has around 40 million subscribers. Justin Bieber? 68 million. Harry Styles, a respectable 12 million. You can even add Eminem and Michael Jackson to th...

Don’t enter your recovery phrase! Phishers target Ledger crypto-wallet users

Ledger is one of the biggest hardware cryptocurrency wallets around and scammers have noticed. Phishing mails are in circulation, hoping to snag Ledger users with a sneaky request for passphrases. What is a Ledger recovery phrase? A recovery phrase is an incredibly important combination of words...

Colibri Loader combines Task Scheduler and PowerShell in clever persistence technique

This blog post was authored by Ankur Saini, with contributions from Hossein Jazi and Jérôme Segura 2022-04-07: Added MITRE ATT&CK mappings 2022-04-07: Changed the name of the final payload from Vidar to Mars Stealer Colibri Loader is a relatively new piece of malware that first appeared on...

CafePress faces $500,000 fine for data breach cover up

The US Federal Trade Commission FTC has announced that it took action against online customized merchandise platform CafePress over allegations that it failed to secure consumers’ sensitive personal data and covered up a major breach. CafePress is a popular online custom T-shirt and merchandise...

Nvidia, the ransomware breach with some plot twists

On February 25, news broke about a cyberattack on Nvidia, America’s biggest microchip company, which saw parts of its business taken offline for two days. Soon after, the ransomware group LAPSUS$ claimed responsibility and threatened to leak 1 TB in exfiltrated data. You would think that while th...

Covid app’s privacy information ruled not clear enough

The UKs data watchdog has issued a reprimand to both the Scottish government and NHS National Services Scotland about their Covid Status app. The Information Commissioners Office ICO urged both to act swiftly to address its concerns about the app that, according to the ICO, failed to provide peop...

“Ethnicity recognition” tool listed on surveillance camera app store built by fridge-maker’s video analytics startup

The bizarre promotional video promises “Face analysis based on best of breed Artificial Intelligence algorithms for Business Intelligence and Digital Signage applications.” What follows is footage of a woman pushing her hair behind her ears, a man grimacing and baring his teeth, and an actor in a...