Explained: Privacy washing

Question: Who said the sentence below? “Privacy is at the heart of everything we do.” Answer: Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet and its largest subsidiary Google. And if you look at the recent actions Google has announced, you’d be tempted to take his word for it: An initiative to let Chrome hid...

AI sneak attacks, location spying, and definitely not malware, or, what one teenager fears online: Lock and Code S04E21

This week on the Lock and Code podcast... What are you most worried about online? And what are you doing to stay safe? Depending on who you are, those could be very different answers, but for teenagers and members of Generation Z, the internet isn't so scary because of traditional threats like...

TikTok flooded with fake celebrity nude photo Temu referrals

Sites and apps frequently gamify their products and experiences to grow their user base. Its a relatively easy way to have their customers become more involved thanks to whatever incentives may be on offer. A game here, a rewards program there, and everyone is happy. Well, almost everyone. If...

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...

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...

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...

Film companies lose battle to unmask Reddit users

An interesting case marking the limits of what data big business can expect to dig up has concluded its day or to be more accurate, many days in court. Ars Technica reports that film companies have lost their battle to make social site Reddit identify anonymous users discussing piracy. No fewer...

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...

Ransomware attackers email bemused students as leverage for a payout

The University of Manchester has fallen victim to a ransomware gang, who are currently applying an interesting twist to their attack. Blackmail and pressure are two ways to extract funds from potential victims. We see this in sextortion cases, as well as in social engineering. Here, the fraudster...

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...

Strava heatmap loophole may reveal users' home addresses

Researchers at NC State University have outlined potential privacy issues with popular fitness app Strava which could lead to users' homes being pinpointed. The researchers' findings are detailed in a paper called Heat marks the spot: de-anonymising users' geographical data on the Strava heat map...

AI-powered content farms start clogging search results with ad-stuffed spam

A recent study by NewsGuard, trackers of online misinformation, makes some alarming discoveries about the role of artificial intelligence AI in content farm generation. If youve previously held your nose at the content mill grind, its probably going to become a lot more unpleasant. Content farms...

Removing the human: When should AI be used in emotional crisis? Lock and Code S03E09

In January, a mental health nonprofit admitted that it had used Artificial Intelligence to help talk to people in distress. Prompted first by a user's longing for personal improvement--and the difficulties involved in that journey--the AI tool generated a reply, which, with human intervention,...

Crushing the two biggest threats to mobile endpoint security in 2023

Dont let their small size fool you: mobile devices can have a big impact on your security posture. Its easy to see why, considering that almost half of organizations said they suffered a mobile-related compromise in 2022. Malware and phishing are two particular mobile threats that you need to...

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...

Up to 10 million people potentially impacted by JD Sports breach

Were at the start of February, and news of breaches keeps on coming. In this case, though, while the news that 10 million JD Sports customers may have been impacted by a cyber attack has only just arrived, the data potentially accessed in that attack is already several years old. The danger zone ...

[updated]Ransomware money laundering operation disrupted, founder arrested

The US Department of Justice DOJ has released information about the arrest of Anatoly Legkodymov, the founder and majority owner of a cryptocurrency exchange called Bitzlato, on money laundering charges. Legkodymov, a Russian national who lives in China, is accused of processing over $700 million...

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...

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...

Ransomware attack freezes newspaper printing system

Several German newspapers were left unable to release printed versions of their papers after a ransomware attack affected their printing systems. Speaking to BleepingComputer, Uwe Ralf Heer, editor-in-chief of Heilbronn Stimme, said the attack hit the entire Stimme Mediengruppe media group, which...

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...

Grand Theft Auto 6 suffers grand theft

For games publisher Take-Two Interactive, damage control is in full effect as word spreads of a Grand Theft Auto-centric network compromise. Developer Rockstar Games has suffered a major leak of upcoming game content, specifically unfinished video footage of Grand Theft Auto 6. The first anyone...

Malvertising on Microsoft Edge's News Feed pushes tech support scams

While Google Chrome still dominates as the top browser, Microsoft Edge, which is based on the Chromium source code, is gradually gaining more users. Perhaps more importantly, it is the default browser on the Microsoft Windows platform and as such some segments of its user base are of particular...

How IT teams can prevent phishing attacks with Malwarebytes DNS filtering

Phishing attacks are a persistent threat to businesses globally. According to Verizon, 82 percent of data breaches in 2021 involved the human element--with phishing attacks making up over 60 precent of these. And if it aint broke, dont fix it: threat actors have only continued to use phishing to...

$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...

FCC warns of steep rise in phishing over SMS

After the FCC Federal Communications Commission made a huge splash weeks ago when it told Google and Apple to pull TikTok from their respective app stores, the federal agency is now warning Americans of an increased wave of SMS phishing attacks. SMS phishing, otherwise known as smishing or...

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...

The winding road to compliance

“Here are the keys. Buy milk and bread. Drive safely.” These are important instructions for a new driver tasked with running an errand. But unless the driver knows where they are going, a bit of guidance on how to get to the store can only help. Without it, the driver may complete the errand...

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...

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...

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,...

Cybersecurity agencies: You don’t have to delete PowerShell to secure it

Microsofts PowerShell is a useful, flexible tool that is as popular with criminals as it is with admins. Cybercrooks like it becasue PowerShell is powerful, available almost everywhere, and doesnt look out of place running on a company network. In most places it isnt practical to block PowerShell...

A week in security (June 6 – June 12)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: FBI warns of scammers soliciting donations for Ukraine Microsoft autopatch is here…but can you use it? Prometheus ransomwares flaws inspired researchers to try to build a near-universal decryption tool Rotten apples banned from App store Hackers can take over...

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...

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...

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...

How to password protect a folder

There are times when you would like a folder to be accessible by you alone. Financial information, personal documents, or work related files on your personal system sometimes need to be hidden from prying eyes. One of the ways to do this is to password protect the folder. Windows For the Windows...

A week in security (March 28 – April 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: New UAC-0056 activity: There’s a Go Elephant in the room Globant suffers network breach due to LAPSUS$ compromise Update now! Apple patches two zero-day vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited Hive ransomware impacts California non-profit health...

Roblox Beamers steal items from kids

Roblox gamers are once again being warned to be on their guard against scammers plundering valuable digital items. Most multiplayer titles are all about customization. You won’t find many popular games where digital items aren’t up for grabs. Some games lock the items, such as outfits, weapons, o...

Ban Pegasus spyware, urges European Union Data Protection Supervisor

The European Data Protection Supervisor EDPS has urged the EU to ban the development and deployment of spyware with the capabilities of Pegasus to protect fundamental rights and freedoms. What is Pegasus? On July 18, a group of 17 newspaper and media organizations—aided by Amnesty International’s...

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...

Duo of Android dropper and payload target certain countries and app users

After making its first in-the-wild appearance in March 2021, Vultur—an information-stealing RAT that runs on Android—is back. And its dropper is equally nasty. Vultur Romanian for "vulture" is known to target banks, cryptocurrency wallets, social media Facebook, TikTok, and messaging services...

Big Mother is watching: What parents REALLY think about tracking their kids

Every year on Data Privacy Day, we’re greeted with countless arguments about the absolute merits of data privacy protections good, invasions bad, but we rarely see a faithful, factual accounting for the biggest data privacy conundrum facing billions of people every single day: Should parents inva...

A week in security (Dec 6 – 12)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Log4j zero-day “Log4Shell” arrives just in time to ruin your weekend Click “OK” to defeat MFA Fake job interviews plague major game developers like Riot Games and Rockstar Has your WordPress site been backdoored by a skimmer? What is a search engine and why does...

Windows 10 chills out, gives sysadmins a break

A few short weeks ago, Microsoft launched the very latest version of its desktop operating system OS, Windows 11. In security terms, Windows 11 is very much Windows 10 with knobs on. Or what Spinal Taps Nigel Tufnel might describe as Windows 10 turned up to 11. Unlike Tufnels description of his...

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...

Malwarebytes research shows an unequal, unsafe Internet

If the Internet was as safe and as private as it is essential for everyday life—increasingly required for job applications, bank transfers, doctor’s appointments, and filing taxes—then we’d likely have fewer online scams, better privacy protections, smaller data breaches, and a lower overall risk...