Part 2: All rise! Mind these digital crimes and arm your business against them

In the first installment of this two-part series, we advised consumers to stay on top of a selection of up-and-coming crimes to significantly lessen the chances of encountering them in the future. For this post, we're going to look into digital crimes that keeps small businesses and large...

New Mac Malware-as-a-Service offerings

A couple weeks ago, two new Malware-as-a-Service MaaS offerings for the Mac became available. These two offerings - a backdoor named MacSpy and a ransomware app named MacRansom - were discovered by Catalin Cimpanu of Bleeping Computer on May 25. Cimpanu evidently had some trouble getting hold of...

Valve warns Steam hardware buyers: Expect fake delivery scams

Most of us are wise to phishing emails that don't contain much personal information. Generic "your account is suspended" messages usually get binned on sight. But what about the phishing emails that use your real name and address, and reference the specific product you bought last month? Even for...

Turn off this Meta setting before someone generates AI images of you

Every consumer app has a settings menu that lets you make decisions about things like notifications or dark mode. Meta has just decided that anyone can generate AI images of you from your public Instagram account by typing your Instagram handle into a prompt. On July 7, Meta launched its AI image...

WinRAR flaw could allow attackers to take control of your computer

Rarlab has released a new version of the popular WinRAR tool to patch a vulnerability that can be abused in remote code execution attacks. The issue is fixed in WinRAR 7.23, but users must install the new version manually because WinRAR still does not offer automatic updates. They also need to ma...

ChatGPT produced graphic violent images that shocked researchers

AI assistants like ChatGPT are supposed to be safe to use, with appropriate guardrails to stop people creating harmful content. However, a British AI security firm just figured out how to make ChatGPT produce explicit material. Mindgard, a company that tests AI engines for weaknesses, found that ...

Malware steals Chrome session cookies to take over your accounts

An email attachment leads to the installation of a malicious Chrome extension. Researchers say it is part of a Windows backdoor delivered via a phishing email. The malware abuses Chrome Native Messaging to move control from the browser into the host system. Its most notable trick isn't the phishi...

Malwarebytes earns AV-TEST Top Product award, aces other third-party tests

Our job is to protect people from online threats, and independent testing is one of the best ways to measure how well we’re doing. Malwarebytes nabbed AV-TEST's Top Product award after scoring 17.5 points out of a possible 18 in the research organization's most recent Windows security test. The...

Fake CAPTCHA scam turns a quick click into a costly phone bill

Researchers have documented a long‑running campaign that uses fake CAPTCHA pages to trick mobile users into sending dozens of international SMS messages in the background. If you’ve spent any time on today’s web, CAPTCHAs may seem like background noise: click a few traffic lights, prove you’re...

Mythos: An AI tool too powerful for public release

Anthropic’s most capable model to date, Claude Mythos Preview aka Mythos, has been described as a “step change” in AI performance, especially on cybersecurity tasks. Anthropic tried to keep Mythos a secret until a few weeks ago, when a data leak revealed the existence of what the company said was...

Support platform breach exposes Hims & Hers customer data

Healthcare companies handle some of the most personal data imaginable. That makes them a magnet for hackers. And when those companies outsource their customer support to third-party platforms, every one of those platforms becomes another door someone can try to kick in. Telehealth giant Hims & He...

Fake Zoom and Google Meet scams install Teramind: A technical deep dive

UPDATE February 27, 2026 : We have added more clarity around the abuse of legitimate commercial products, and of Teramind's stealth mode. Important note: Teramind, the software vendor referenced in this article, has stated they are not affiliated with the threat actors described, did not deploy t...

Age verification vendor Persona left frontend exposed, researchers say

Researchers investigating Discord’s age-verification checks say they discovered an exposed frontend belonging to Persona, the identity-verification vendor used by Discord. It revealed a far more expansive surveillance and financial intelligence stack than a simple “teen safety” tool. A short whil...

Facebook ads spread fake Windows 11 downloads that steal passwords and crypto wallets

Attackers are running paid Facebook ads that look like official Microsoft promotions, then directing users to near-perfect clones of the Windows 11 download page. Click Download Now and instead of a Windows update, you get a malicious installer—one that silently steals saved passwords, browser...

Microsoft Office zero-day lets malicious documents slip past security checks

Microsoft issued an emergency patch for a high-severity zero-day vulnerability in Office that allows attackers to bypass document security checks and is being exploited in the wild via malicious files. Microsoft pushed the emergency patch for the zero‑day, tracked as CVE-2026-21509, and classifie...

“Reprompt” attack lets attackers steal data from Microsoft Copilot

Researchers found a method to steal data which bypasses Microsoft Copilot's built-in safety mechanisms. The attack flow, called Reprompt , abuses how Microsoft Copilot handled URL parameters in order to hijack a user’s existing Copilot Personal session. Copilot is an AI assistant which connects t...

Pig butchering is the next “humanitarian global crisis” (Lock and Code S06E25)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … This is the story of the world's worst scam and how it is being used to fuel entire underground economies that have the power to rival nation-states across the globe. This is the story of "pig butchering." "Pig butchering" is a violent term that is used to...

The 3 biggest cybersecurity threats to small businesses

In an online world filled with extraordinarily sophisticated cyberattacks—including organized assaults on software supply chains, state-directed exploitations of undiscovered vulnerabilities, and the novel and malicious use of artificial intelligence AI—small businesses are forced to prioritize a...

Android malware turns phones into malicious tap-to-pay machines

Got an Android phone? Got a tap-to-pay card? Then you're like millions of other users now at risk from a new form of cybercrime - malware that can read your credit or debit card and hand its data over to an attacker. A newly discovered malicious program effectively turns Android phones into...

Oops! Google accidentally deletes some users’ Maps Timeline data

Google has admitted it accidentally deleted some users' Google Maps Timeline data after a "technical issue". As reported by Forbes on March 11, users started noticing that their Google Maps Timelines had completely disappeared. At the time, we didn't know anything about the cause of this issue...

A week in security (March 17 – March 23)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: What Google Chrome knows about you, with Carey Parker Lock and Code S06E06 Personal data revealed in released JFK files Semrush impersonation scam hits Google Ads Targeted spyware and why it’s a concern to us The "free money" trap: How scammers exploit financial...

Texas scrutinizes four more car manufacturers on privacy issues (updated)

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has started an investigation into how Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler collect, share, and sell consumer data, expanding an earlier probe launched last year into how modern automakers are potentially using customer driving data. We've addressed cars and...

Android users targeted on Facebook and porn sites, served adware

Android users, be on your guard against adware trying to infect your device. The adware—known as MobiDash—is spreading via several channels, according to ThreatDown research. One of the characteristics that makes MobiDash stand out is that it can be added to legitimate apps without changing how t...

A week in security (September 23 – September 29)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Millions of Kia vehicles were vulnerable to remote attacks with just a license plate number Privacy watchdog files complaint over Firefox quietly enabling its Privacy Preserving Attribution Telegram will hand over user details to law enforcement Don’t share the vir...

Adobe clarifies Terms of Service change, says it doesn’t train AI on customer content

Following days of user pushback that included allegations of forcing a "spyware-like" Terms of Service ToS update into its products, design software giant Adobe explained itself with several clarifications. Apparently, the concerns raised by the community, especially among Photoshop and Substance...

800 arrests, 40 tons of drugs, and one backdoor, or what a phone startup gave the FBI, with Joseph Cox: Lock and Code S05E12

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… This is a story about how the FBI got everything it wanted. For decades, law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the world have lamented the availability of modern technology that allows suspected criminals to hide their communications from legal...

Kaiser health insurance leaked patient data to advertisers

Health insurance giant Kaiser has announced it will notify millions of patients about a data breach after sharing patients’ data with advertisers. Kaiser said that an investigation led to the discovery that “certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications...

Giant Tiger breach sees 2.8 million records leaked

Someone has posted a database of over 2.8 million records to a hacker forum, claiming they originated from a March 2024 hack at Canadian retail chain Giant Tiger. When asked, they posted a small snippet as proof. The download of the full database is practically free for other active members of th...

A week in security (March 25 – March 31)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: MFA bombing taken to the next level How to back up your Mac How to back up your Windows 10/11 PC to OneDrive How to back up your iPhone to a Windows computer How to back up your iPhone to a Mac How to back up your iPhone to iCloud Powering the future of ThreatDown...

How to back up your iPhone to a Windows computer

They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didnt make. iPhone backups can be used to easily move your apps and data to a new phone, to recover things youve lost, or to fix things that have failed. Weve published posts on how to back up your iPhone to iCloud, and how to backup an iPho...

Ransomware’s appetite for US healthcare sees known attacks double in a year

Following the February 21 attack on Change Healthcare, scores of people in the US have been living with the brutal, real-world effects of ransomware. Described by the American Hospital Association AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack as “the most significant and consequential incident of its kind...

Malicious meeting invite fix targets Mac users

Cybercriminals are targeting Mac users interested in cryptocurrency opportunities with fake calendar invites. During the attacks the criminals will send a link supposedly to add a meeting to the target’s calendar. In reality the link runs a script to install Mac malware on the target’s machine...

Why ransomware gangs love using RMM tools—and how to stop them

One of the most alarming trends our ThreatDown Intelligence team has noticed lately is the increased exploitation of legitimate Remote Monitoring and Management RMM tools by ransomware gangs in their attacks. RMM software, such as AnyDesk, Atera, and Splashtop, are essential for IT administrators...

Facebook Marketplace users’ stolen data offered for sale

Personal data belonging to Facebook Marketplace users has been published online, according to BleepingComputer. A cybercriminal was allegedly able to steal a partial database after hacking the systems of a Meta contractor. The leak consists of around 200,000 records that contain names, phone...

Mother of all Breaches may contain NEW breach data

On January 23, 2024, we reported on the discovery of billions of exposed records online, now commonly referred to as the “mother of all breaches” MOAB. Since then, the source of the dataset has been identified as data breach search engine Leak-Lookup. Prevention platform SpyCloud compared the MOA...

In conversation: Bruce Schneier on AI-powered mass spying

For decades, governments and companies have surveilled the conversations, movements, and behavior of the public. And then the internet came along and made that a whole lot easier. Today, search engines collect our queries, browsers collect our device information, smartphones collect out locations...

Fidelity National Financial acknowledges data breach affecting 1.3 million customers

In November 2023, real estate services company Fidelity National Financial FNF got its systems knocked offline for a week after a cyberincident. As is often the case these days, it turns out that the cyberincident was very likely a ransomware attack that included a data breach. Ransomware operato...

A week in security (January 1 – January 7)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Police investigate sexual assault on an avatar How AI hallucinations are making bug hunting harder Explained: SMTP smuggling Facebook introduces another way to track you – Link History 23andMe blames "negligent" breach victims, says it’s their own fault Microsoft...

23andMe says, er, actually some genetic and health data might have been accessed in recent breach

In October we reported that the data of as many as seven million 23andMe customers were for sale on criminal forums following a password attack against the genomics company. Now, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC has provided some more insight into the data theft. The...

1Password reports security incident after breach at Okta

Password manager 1Password says it’s been affected by a breach at Okta, but it reports no user data has been stolen. In a security incident report, 1Password says that a member of its IT team received an unexpected email suggesting they had initiated an Okta report of a list of admins. They hadnt...

Food delivery robots give captured video footage to police

In what sounds like a new step towards Skynet, footage from a food delivery robot has been used as part of a criminal investigation. As 404 Media reports, the food delivery robots that are deployed for Uber Eats in Los Angeles are operated by Serve Robotics, which ultimately wants to deploy up to...

Watch out, this LastPass email with "Important information about your account" is a phish

The consequences of last year's LastPass breach continue to be felt, with the latest insult to users coming in the form of a highly convincing phishing email. Although the "unauthorized party" that compromised LastPass users' data was able to steal password vaults, it's likely that they are havin...

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...

Attackers demand ransoms for stolen LinkedIn accounts

An ongoing campaign targeting LinkedIn accounts has led to victims losing control of their accounts, or being locked out following repeated login attempts. Whether the attackers are using brute force methods or credential stuffing isn't known, but because some victims are being being locked out...

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...

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...

Magecart threat actor rolls out convincing modal forms

To ensnare new victims, criminals will often devise schemes that attempt to look as realistic as possible. Having said that, it is not every day that we see the fraudulent copy exceed the original piece. While following up on an ongoing Magecart credit card skimmer campaign, we were almost fooled...