Beware of fake Twitter philanthropists offering to put $750 into your Cash App account

Twitter philanthropists are a controversial emergence on the social media platform. In essence, Twitter-based philanthropy is about incredibly rich people helping out those who need it. The help is random, and often focused around performing a task like listening to a podcast or simply retweeting...

USPS “Your package could not be delivered” text is a smishing scam

A scam is doing the rounds which begins with a text from what claims to be the US Postal Service. The SMS reads as follows: "U.S. Postal Service We’re sorry to let you know that your package could not be delivered. To reschedule a delivery please visit bitdotly" I’ve never received an SMS from th...

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...

DDoS barrage against Israel described as the “largest ever” cyberattack its faced

Several government websites in Israel—those using the .gov.il domain—were inaccessible after a distributed denial of service DDoS attack hit Israels telecommunication provider, Cellcom. NetBlocks, a network disruption watchdog, initially detected "a significant disruption" aimed at the provider,...

Google and Microsoft accused of feeding smaller search engines spam ads

Google and Microsoft appear to have been flooding their smaller search engine rivals with spam ads, to limit the number of higher-value ads that appear on them, according to data viewed by POLITICO. Ads are considered "spam" if they appear in search results but have little to no relevance to the...

Watch out for this bump in LinkedIn phishing

LinkedIn is sometimes forgotten about in more general coverage of phishing attacks. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram receive regular attention. Cryptowallet customer support scams run wild in the replies to any cryptocurrency themed tweet. Facebook users can often be...

Don’t let scammers ruin your Valentine’s Day

Today is Valentines Day, so we thought wed show you how cybercriminals use special times like this one for phishing attacks. Our Valentines story starts with a victim receiving an email message. The email urges them to open an attached file, and also contains well formatted content that tries to...

Microsoft: Slow MFA adoption presents “dangerous mismatch” in security

Multi-factor authentication MFA has been around for many years now, but few enterprises have fully embraced it. In fact, according to Microsofts inaugural "Cyber Signals" report, only 22 percent of all its Azure Active Directory AD enterprise clients have adopted two-factor authentication 2FA, a...

A week in security (January 17 — 23)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: CISA calls for urgent action against critical threats Red Cross begs attackers to “Do the right thing” after family reunion service compromised Update now! Chrome patches critical RCE vulnerability in Safe Browsing Combatting SMS and phone fraud: UK government issu...

Google and Facebook fined $240 million for making cookies hard to refuse

French privacy watchdog, the Commission Nationale de lInformatique et des Libertés CNIL, has hit Google with a 150 million euro fine and Facebook with a 60 million euro fine, because their websites—google.fr, youtube.com, and facebook.com—dont make refusing cookies as easy as accepting them. The...

Emotet being spread via malicious Windows App Installer packages

As reported by Cryptolaemus on Twitter, and demonstrated step by step by BleepingComputer, Emotet is now being distributed through malicious Windows App Installer packages that pretend to be Adobe PDF software. How does the attack work? To understand what Microsoft is supposed to do about this...

Patch now to bypass Firefox add-ons that abuse the proxy API to deny updates

In a Firefox security announcement, Mozilla said 455,000 users have downloaded Firefox add-ons that interfere with how they connect to the internet. The interference in itself was not the deciding factor, however. The add-ons abused the proxy API to prevent users who had installed them from...

The FCC moves to curb SIM swap attacks

The Federal Communications Commission FCC is going to set new rules to curb the rising threat of SIM swapping, also known as SIMjacking. SIM swapping and the very similar port-out fraud is the unlawful use of someones personal information to steal their phone number and swap or transfer it to...

Instagram Kids put on hold

Instagram has announced it is pausing the development of its newest brainchild, Instagram Kids—a version of Instagram aimed at 10-12-year-olds, or "tweens". Adam Mosseri, who heads up Instagram, wrote in a blog post about the idea behind Instagram Kids: "We started this project to address an...

New Mac malware masquerades as iTerm2, Remote Desktop and other apps

Last week, security researcher Patrick Wardle released details of a new piece of malware masquerading as the legitimate app iTerm2. The malware was discovered earlier the same day by security researcher Zhi @CodeColorist on Twitter, and detailed on a Chinese-language blog. For those who dont spea...

Parts of the Dark Web “awash” with school children’s personal data

NBC News has collected and analyzed a trove of childrens personal information it discovered on the Dark Web. Even though this information may not be as useful to cybercriminals as credit card details or login credentials, the information is still out there, where we don’t want it. So what is it,...

Why backups aren’t a “silver bullet” against ransomware, with Matt Crape: Lock and Code S02E17

A recent spate of ransomware attacks in the US and abroad have derailed major corporations, spurring a fuel shortage on the US East Coast, shuttering grocery stores in Sweden, and sending students home from grade schools. The solution, so many cybersecurity experts say, is to implement backups,...

Alleviating ransomware’s legal headaches with Jake Bernstein: Lock and Code S02E08

This week on Lock and Code, we speak to cybersecurity and privacy attorney Jake Bernstein about ransomware attacks that dont just derail a companys reputation and productivity, but also throw them into potential legal peril. In 2020, the cybersecurity community noticed a worrying trend from...

Lock and Code S1Ep19: Forecasting IoT cybersecurity with John Donovan and Adam Kujawa

This week on Lock and Code, we offer something special for listeners—a backstage pass to a cybersecurity training that we held for employees during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which ended in October. The topic? The future of cybersecurity for the Internet of Things. Our guests, Chief Informati...

A week in security (August 31 – September 6)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we dug into security hubris on the Lock and Code podcast, explored ways in which Apple’s notarization process may not be hitting all the right notes, and detailed a new web skimmer. We also explained how to keep distance learners secure, talked about PCI DSS...

Lock and Code S1Ep13: Monitoring the safety of parental monitoring apps with Emory Roane

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 Emory Roane, policy counsel at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, about parental monitoring apps. These tools offer parents the capabilities to spot where the...

Online credit card skimming increased by 26 percent in March

Crisis events such as the current COVID-19 pandemic often lead to a change in habits that captures the attention of cybercriminals. With the confinement measures imposed in many countries, for example, online shopping has soared and along with it, credit card skimming. According to our data, web...

Stalkerware developer dealt new blow by FTC

Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission FTC interpreted its broad consumer protection mandate to file a first-of-its-kind enforcement action against the developer of three mobile stalkerware applications. The developer was banned from further selling the apps unless significant changes were ma...

As Internet turns 50, more risks and possibilities emerge

This op-ed originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 28, 2019. We occupy a richly-connected world. On the Internet, we collapse distance and shift time. But this Internet that delivers mail, connects us with friends, lets us work anywhere, and shop from the palm of the hand, i...

Seven security tips for staying safe on an iPhone

iPhones have a reputation for being notoriously secure. After all, they caused quite the kerfuffle between Apple and the FBI because they are, from the FBI's point of view, too secure! However, don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Using an iPhone is not an automatic guarantee o...

Labs CTNT report shows shift in threat landscape to cryptomining

It's that time again! Time for the quarterly Malwarebytes Labs Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques report aka the Labs CTNT report. To get a more complete picture of what's been going on in cybercrime this quarter, the Labs team has combined intel and statistics gathered from January through March...

New Mac cryptominer has 23 older variants

On February 1, a new Mac cryptominer was discovered being distributed via a hack of the MacUpdate website. Since then, we've been doing some digging and found that this isolated incident was just the tip of the iceberg. The malware delivered by the MacUpdate hack appears to be the culmination of...

Internet of Things (IoT) security: what is and what should never be

The Internet has penetrated seemingly all technological advances today, resulting in Internet for ALL THE THINGS. What was once confined to a desktop and a phone jack is now networked and connected in multiple devices, from home heating and cooling systems like the Nest to AI companions such as...

Adware the series, part 6

In this series of posts, we will be using the flowchart below to follow the process of determining which adware we are dealing with. Our objective is to give you an idea of how many different types of adware are around for Windows systems. Though most are classified as PUPs, you will also see the...

Solution Corner: Malwarebytes Incident Response

Unless you’ve been stuck at a fiery music festival, I don’t need to tell you the threat landscape is constantly evolving and that threats have become increasingly sophisticated at evading detection. Recent Malwarebytes Labs reports, including the 2017 State of Malware shine a light on just how fa...

A week in security (Jun 12 – Jun 18)

Last week was very busy for the Labs, with a look at so-called numeric tech support scams, a visit to the huge Infosec Europe conference, an exploration of Mac Malware as a Service, and a walk through the myths of online bullying. Elsewhere: A huge click-farm is busted Jaff Ransomware is thwarted...

What happens if you visit a WordPress site hacked through wp2shell?

WordPress has patched a serious core vulnerability chain known as wp2shell, and site owners are understandably focused on updating their own sites. But there’s another question worth asking: what happens to ordinary visitors when they land on a compromised site? Because a hacked website becomes a...

6.9 million driver’s license numbers stolen from AssuranceAmerica

Insurance provider AssuranceAmerica has confirmed a data breach affecting the personal information and driver’s license numbers of up to 6.9 million people. AssuranceAmerica provides car and rental insurance to customers across 14 US states through a network of over 9,500 independent agents...

“Total access to all your devices.” Sextortion scammers strike again

At the moment, we’re seeing all kinds of sextortion emails. The scam is cheap to run, easy to automate, and apparently profitable enough that cybercriminals keep using it. Some criminals put more effort into their messages than others. Sextortion emails are messages claiming that scammers recorde...

Retro gaming fans are the new target for fake GitHub malware

Retro gaming fans should be careful with GitHub projects that claim to be tools or plugins for their consoles. Attackers can disguise ordinary computer malware as homebrew software, and the technique works against any retro platform with an active modding scene, not just one console. We recently...

Inside a malicious infrastructure delivering EtherRAT, phishing pages, and malicious software

During our recent threat hunting activities, we found EtherRAT malware being distributed by a website with a strange homepage. This homepage allowed us to discover a vast malicious infrastructure distributing malware, malicious documents, remote desktop software, and phishing pages. EtherRAT is a...

Microsoft’s biggest-ever Patch Tuesday fixes 206 bugs, including 3 zero-days

This month’s Patch Tuesday fixes 206 security flaws in Microsoft software, making it the biggest Patch Tuesday release ever. The update includes 32 critical vulnerabilities, as well as three publicly disclosed zero-days. Microsoft classifies these as zero-days because information about the...

Meta’s AI support bot happily handed Instagram accounts to hackers

Customer service chatbots have one job: get the user what they're asking for without bothering a human. Meta's new AI support assistant took that brief a little too seriously. Over the past few months, attackers have been opening support chats, telling the bot they were locked out of Instagram...

A week in security (May 11 – May 17)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Attackers replaced JDownloader installer downloads with malware Meta’s confusing new approach to chat privacy Why Malwarebytes blocks some Yahoo Mail redirects Fake Claude search results lure Mac users into ClickFix attack Deepfake sextortion forces schools to remo...

Meta’s confusing new approach to chat privacy

Recent news had us wondering whether Meta actually knows what it wants. On one platform, Meta is promoting AI chats that it says even it cannot read. On another, it has removed one of the few features that genuinely prevented Meta from accessing private conversations. "Meta removed support for...

1 in 8 employees have sold company logins or know someone who has

UK anti-fraud non-profit Cifas just published research that should bother anyone who runs a business, or buys from one: One in eight workers at large enterprises have either sold their company login credentials or know someone who did. The internet is awash with compromised credentials that...

If a fake moustache can fool age checks, is the Online Safety Act working?

A report based on a survey by the UK’s Internet Matters shows that much of the responsibility for managing the online safety of children still falls on families. The Online Safety Act came into effect in July, 2025, and the report explores what has changed in the online lives of UK families since...

Millions of students’ personal data stolen in major education breach

Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning management system LMS, confirmed a cyber incident and subsequent data breach affecting its cloud‑hosted environment. The ShinyHunters ransomware group claims it is behind the attack and says it stole roughly 275 million records tied to students,...

Chinese engineer stole US military and NASA software for years

International espionage isn't always about sophisticated malware and zero-day bugs. Sometimes it's as simple as pretending to be someone else asking for a favor. For four years, a Chinese aerospace engineer did just that. Dozens of researchers at NASA, the US military, and major universities hand...

Apple fixes iOS bug that kept deleted notifications, including chat previews

Apple has released a software update that deals with an issue that could allow deleted notifications to be retrieved. Something that, in at least one reported case, was used by law enforcement during forensic analysis. Apple fixed the issue in iOS and iPadOS versions 18.7.8 and 26.4.2 check...

April Patch Tuesday fixes two zero-days, including one under active attack

This month’s patch Tuesday looks to remediate 167 security vulnerabilities including two zero-day vulnerabilities, one of which is known to be actively exploited in the wild. This makes April one of those months where “Patch Tuesday” looks more like “patch the entire stack,” from servers and...

A week in security (March 9 – March 15)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Watch out for fake Malwarebytes renewal notices in your calendar Google patches two Chrome zero-days under active attack. Update now Attackers impersonate Temu in ClickFix $Temu airdrop scam Apple patches Coruna exploit kit flaws for older iOS versions This Android...

How to see your Google Search history (and delete it)

Your Google Search history provides one of the most detailed windows into your private life, and I know this because when I looked at my own search history last year, I was overwhelmed by the information buried within. Across just 18 months, Google tracked the 8,079 searches I made and the 3,050...

Samsung TVs stop spying on viewers in Texas. Here’s how to disable ACR anywhere

Samsung has settled a lawsuit with the Texas Attorney General over how its smart TVs collect and monetize viewing data using Automated Content Recognition ACR. As part of the settlement, Samsung agreed to stop collecting ACR data from Texans without explicit, informed consent and to rewrite its...

“Sleeper” browser extensions woke up as spyware on 4 million devices

Researchers have unraveled a malware campaign that really did play the long game. After seven years of behaving normally, a set of browser extensions installed on roughly 4.3 million Chrome and Edge users’ devices suddenly went rogue. Now they can track what you browse and run malicious code insi...