Malware creator who compromised 10,000 computers arrested

The creator of a Remote Access Trojan RAT, responsible for compromising more than 10,000 computers, has been arrested by law enforcement in Ukraine. At the time of the arrest, the developer still had real-time access to 600 PCs. According to the announcement, the RAT could tell infected devices t...

The NBA tells fans about data breach

The National Basketball Association NBA has notified its fans they may be affected by a data breach in a third-party service the organization uses. For now, it is safe to assume that the attacker only obtained names and email addresses, but the NBA has hired the services of external cybersecurity...

A look at a Magecart skimmer using the Hunter obfuscator

Threat actors are notorious for trying to hide their code in various ways, from binary packers to obfuscators. On their own, these tools are not always malicious as they can also be be used by companies or individuals who wish to keep their work safe from piracy, but overall they tend to be large...

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...

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...

Consent to gather data is a "misguided" solution, study reveals

When researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication conducted a survey to see if "informed consent" practices are working online with regard to user data gathering, the results revealed weaknesses in a framework that, for decades, has served as the basis for...

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...

On the 20th Safer Internet Day, what was security like back in 2004?

Today is the 20th Safer Internet Day. Since 2004, there's been an annual event designed to "Promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world." 2004 was a key year for several safety activities, encompassin...

A private moment, caught by a Roomba, ended up on Facebook. Eileen Guo explains how: Lock and Code S04E03

In 2020, a photo of a woman sitting on a toilet--her shorts pulled half-way down her thighs--was shared on Facebook, and it was shared by someone whose job it was to look at that photo and, by labeling the objects in it, help train an artificial intelligence system for a vacuum. Bizarre? Yes...

Hive! Hive! Hive! Ransomware site submerged by FBI

On January 26, 2023, the United States Department of Justice DoJ released details about a disruption campaign against the Hive ransomware group. The disruption campaign has reportedly had access to Hive's infrastructure since July of 2022. Its access became public on Thursday when Hive's dark web...

Google to support the use of Rust in Chromium

In a blog by the Chrome security team we learned that the Chromium project is going to support the use of third-party Rust libraries from C++ in Chromium. This is good news because Rust is a so-called memory-safe programming language. So using it in a widespread program like Chrome and the other...

The Guardian hit by "ransomware attack"

On Tuesday December 20, 2022 British newspaper The Guardian experienced a major IT security incident that crippled a part of its IT infrastructure. The suspected cause is ransomware. In an online article the newspaper published an internal statement from the chief executive and the editor-in-chie...

Ho, ho, no! Scams to avoid this festive season

Whether youve been naughty or nice, someone will try and stuff a scam down your chimney either way. The FBI is warning of several likely ways to be parted from your funds or logins, and were going to give some additional context along with tips to avoid these digital lumps of coal. Social media...

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...

Maintenance Mode aims to keep phone data private during repairs

One of the biggest data related headaches youll face with a mobile device is what do to in the event of a repair. When you have to send your phone in for a fix, what happens to your data? In many cases, the repair technicians will simply scrub the phone by default unless you ask them not to. In...

Point-of-sale malware used to steal 167,000 credit cards

In the 19 months between February 2021 and September 2022, two point-of-sale POS malware operators have stolen more than 167,000 payment records, mainly from the US, according to researchers at Group-IB. The researchers were able to retrieve information about infected machines and compromised...

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...

Twitter fixes bug that left devices logged in after password reset

Twitter says it has fixed a bug that meant users weren't logged out of active sessions on all devices after manually resetting their passwords. Writing on its blog, Twitter said: "We want to let you know that we recently fixed a bug that allowed Twitter accounts to stay logged in from multiple...

Malwarebytes recognized as endpoint security leader by G2

G2 has released their Fall 2022 reports, ranking Malwarebytes as the leader across a number of endpoint protection categories. Based on factual customer reviews, Malwarebytes has been ranked 1 over top EDR vendors for endpoint malware and antivirus protection, detection and remediation of web-bas...

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...

Cyber threat hunting for SMBs: How MDR can help

When you hear the words "cyber threat hunting", you just may picture an elite team of security professionals scouring your systems for malware. Sounds like something only huge businesses or nation states would need to do, right? Not quite. Threat hunting is just as essential for...

A week in security (September 5 – 11)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Phishers use verified status as bait for Instagram users Microsoft will disable Basic authentication for Exchange Online in less than a month Zero-day puts a dent in Chrome's mojo Update now! QNAP warns users DeadBolt is exploiting Photo Station vulnerability Don't...

YouTuber on the run after allegedly swiping $55m from followers

We mostly hear about bogus advertising and offers via compromised accounts on Instagram or Facebook. Strict advertising rules on social media involve making it clear that someone is promoting an ad or offering up a risky venture. However, sometimes things go wrong on other platforms like YouTube...

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...

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,...

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...

More than a quarter of Americans fell for robocall scam calls in past year

More and more Americans have been falling victim to phone scams since 2019. According to the latest report from Truecaller Google Docs upload of the entire report, separate blog here, a known spam blocker and caller ID app, 68.4 million Americans were victimized in the last 12 months, a substanti...

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...

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...

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...

Conti ransomware offshoot targets Russian organizations

Thanks to the Threat Intelligence team for their help with this article. Conti, the infamous ransomware created by a group of Russian and Eastern European cybercriminals, has again made headlines after a hacking group used its leaked source code to create another variant of the ransomware and...

CISA warns of cyberespionage by Iranian APT “MuddyWater”

Cybersecurity agencies in the US and UK have issued a joint cybersecurity advisory CSA on MuddyWater, a government-sponsored Iranian advanced persistent threat APT actor. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, the US Cyber Command Cyber...

Facebook sued for siphoning facial recognition data without consent

Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, recently filed a lawsuit against Facebooks parent company, Meta, for harvesting the facial recognition data of millions of Texan residents—for a decade. Paxton filed the lawsuit on Monday in the states Harrison County District Court. The suit contains...

How to speed up your computer or laptop

Why do machines always throw a tantrum when you are in a hurry? It’s called Murphy’s Law which some people may know as the butter side down rule. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And usually at a time when it is most inconvenient. That being said, there are ways to speed things up. Let’s...

Segway store compromised with Magecart skimmer

In the early 2000s, the Segway company released a personal transporter that would become iconic. The Segway Human Transporter was quickly sold on Amazon and featured in a number of movies. Since 2015, Segway has been a subsidiary of Chinese-based company Ninebot and sells electric scooters under...

FBI traces and grabs back $150 million theft that was turned into bitcoins

On December 1, 2021, the Tokyo police arrested an employee of Sony Life Insurance on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining 17 billion yen through an illegal money transfer from an overseas unit. On the same day 3,879 bitcoins, worth about $150 million, were seized by law enforcement, and on the...

When a deepfake “empire” continues to grow

I’ve been quite vocal on the impact of deepfakes, in terms of where the most harm takes place. Back in 2019, we looked at malign interference campaigns. I took the line that, other than revenge porn, this was where deepfakes were likely to have the most influence. Although people keep talking abo...

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...

The importance of backing up

What does backing up something mean? Backing up is the act of making a copy or copies of a file. These files are stored somewhere other than where the originals are located. You may only need to back up a few files, or it might be a much bigger effort. Requirements may differ greatly depending on...

A week in security (Oct 11 – Oct 17)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Google warns some users that FancyBear’s been prowling around Inside Apple: How macOS attacks are evolving The joy of phishing your employees ExpressVPN made a choice, and so did I: Lock and Code S02E19 Update now! Apple patches another privilege escalation bug in i...

Google to auto-enrol users, YouTubers into 2SV

Googles announced some changes to how its helping millions of its users stay safe and secure. The biggest of those changes is that it plans to auto-enrol its users in to two-step verification, or 2SV. 2SV adds an extra layer when logging into your account and the additional step happens after you...

A week in security (Sept 6 – Sept 12)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Apple delays plans to search devices for child abuse imagery. ProtonMail hands user’s IP address and device info to police, showing the limits of private email. Patch now! Netgear fixes serious smart switch vulnerabilities. Tor vs VPN—What is the difference? Windows...

Facebook puts on Ray-Bans, struts into the privacy minefield of smart glasses

Facebook, neck-deep in virtual / augmented reality with the Oculus headset, continues to move things up a gear. Its announced “Ray-Ban stories”, smart glasses which take video and photos. The company may yet go one step further and incorporate these features into Augmented Reality AR specs which ...

Microsoft warns about phishing campaign using open redirects

The Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team posted an article stating that they have been tracking a widespread credential phishing campaign using open redirector links. Open redirects have been part of the phisher’s arsenal for a long time and it is a proven method to trick victims into...

Twitter takes aim at the chaos, clutter and trolls with new feature concepts

Twitter is potentially looking to add some new features to combat specific forms of abuse and / or aggravation on the platform. They’re still at the design stage, but they’re asking for feedback and it seems this will happen down the line. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what they’re up t...

Ransomware attack shuts down Colonial Pipeline fuel supply

UPDATE 10:47 AM Pacific Time, May 10: At 8:55 AM Pacific Time, the FBI confirmed that Colonial Pipeline was attacked by Darkside. According to a statement posted on Twitter, the FBI said: "The FBI confirms that the Darkside ransomware is responsible for the compromise of Colonial Pipeline network...

Google to start automatically enrolling users in two-step verification “soon”

If you use a Google account, it may soon be mandatory to sign up to Googles two-step verification program. As recently as 2017, a tiny amount of GMail users made use of its two-step options. Maybe the uptake is still slow, and Google has decided enough is enough. With so much valuable data stuffe...

Fintech industry developments, differences between Europe and the US

“Put your money in the bank and you can watch it grow.” If there is a statement that shows us how much the financial world has changed it’s this one. With the introduction of negative interest, companies and consumers with a large amount of liquid assets are looking for a different way to handle...

SBA phishing scams: from malware to advanced social engineering

A number of threat actors continue to take advantage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic through phishing scams and other campaigns distributing malware. In this blog, we look at 3 different phishing waves targeting applicants for Covid-19 relief loans. The phishing emails impersonate the US Smal...