What does Facebook know about me? (Lock and Code S06E11)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … There's an easy way to find out what Facebook knows about you—you just have to ask. In 2020, the social media giant launched an online portal that allows all users to access their historical data and to request specific types of information for download...

Zero-day attacks on browsers and smartphones drop, says Google

Cybercriminals are having less success targeting end-user technology with zero-day attacks, said Google's security team this week. While most attacks do still target personal technology like smartphones and browsers, the focus is moving increasingly to enterprise tech. Zero-day vulnerabilities ar...

“Follow me” to this fake crypto exchange to claim $500

A type of crypto scam that we reported about in 2024 has ported over to a new platform and changed tactics—a bit. Where the old scams mostly reached me on WhatsApp, the same group of scammers is now using Direct Messages on X. However, the same old trick of "accidentally" sending you login detail...

Malwarebytes named “Best Antivirus Software” and “Best Malware Removal Service”

Horn tooting time: We're excited to say we've earned a coveted spot in PCMag’s “Best Antivirus Software for 2025” list, and been recognized as the “Best Malware Removal Service 2025” by CNET. PCMag’s rigorous evaluation process takes into account a range of factors, including real-world, hands-on...

Child predators are lurking on dating apps, warns report

Using a dating app? Beware of your potential partner's motives. A report from Edinburgh University warns that child abusers are using these apps to find single parents with vulnerable children. The Searchlight 2025 report, from the University's Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, analyses t...

“This fraud destroyed my life.” Man ends up with criminal record after ID was stolen

This is a sad story that illustrates how losing your ID can effectively ruin your life and reputation. 19-year-old dual German Tunisian national Rami Battikh travelled to the UK in 2019, bringing both his passport and his German national ID. When he returned to Germany, Rami noticed that his Germ...

AMOS and Lumma stealers actively spread to Reddit users

We were alerted to Mac and Windows stealers currently distributed via Reddit posts targeting users engaging in cryptocurrency trading. One of the common lures is a cracked software version of the popular trading platform TradingView. The crooks are posting links to both Windows and Mac installers...

Research on iOS apps shows widespread exposure of secrets

Researchers found that most of the apps available on Apple’s App Store leak at least one hard-coded secret. The researchers looked at 156,000 iOS apps and discovered more than 815,000 hardcoded secrets, including very sensitive secrets like keys to cloud storage, various Application Programming...

Malwarebytes Premium Security awarded “Product of the Year” from AVLab

Malwarebytes Premium Security has once again been awarded “Product of the Year” after successfully blocking 100% of “in-the-wild” malware samples. The samples were deployed in multiple, consecutive third-party tests conducted by the AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation. AVLab commended Malwarebytes for...

SecTopRAT bundled in Chrome installer distributed via Google Ads

Criminals are once again abusing Google Ads to trick users into downloading malware. Ironically, this time the bait is a malicious ad for Google Chrome, the world's most popular browser. Victims who click the ad land on a fraudulent Google Sites page designed as a intermediary portal, similar to...

New scams could abuse brief USPS suspension of inbound packages from China, Hong Kong

I would be the last one to provide scammers with good ideas, but as a security provider, sometimes we need to think like criminals to stay ahead in the race. Recently, the US Postal Service USPS announced that it would suspend inbound packages from China and Hong Kong until further notice. That...

University site cloned to evade ad detection distributes fake Cisco installer

There is a constant "cat and mouse" game between defenders and attackers, the latter trying to outsmart and get a head start on the former. In the context of online advertising, this involves creating fake identities or using stolen ones to push out malicious ads. An attacker not only needs to...

Cybercrime gets a few punches on the nose

It’s not often that we get to share good news, so we wanted to grab this opportunity and showcase some progress made by law enforcement actions against cybercrime with you. Europol notified us about the take-down of two of the largest cybercrime forums in the world. With over 10 million users,...

GroupGreeting e-card site attacked in “zqxq” campaign

This article was researched and written by Stefan Dasic, manager, research and response forThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes Malwarebytes recently uncovered a widespread cyberattack—referred to here as the “zqxq” campaign as it closely mirrors NDSW/NDSX-style malware behavior—that compromised...

Dental group lied through teeth about data breach, fined $350,000

A US chain of dental offices known as Westend Dental LLC denied a 2020 ransomware attack and its associated data breach, instead telling their customers that data was lost due to an “accidentally formatted hard drive.” Unfortunately for the organization, the truth was found out. Westend Dental...

Data breaches in 2024: Could it get any worse?

It may sound weird when I say that I would like to remember 2024 as the year of the biggest breaches. That’s mainly because that would mean we’ll never see another year like it. To support this nomination, I will remind you of several high-profile breaches, some of a size almost beyond imaginatio...

2024 in AI: It’s changed the world, but it’s not all good

A popular saying is: “To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.” Even though the saying is older than you might think, it did not come about earlier than the concept of artificial intelligence AI. And as long as we have been waiting for AI technology to become commonplace...

4.8 million healthcare records left freely accessible

Your main business is healthcare, so your excuse when you get hacked is that you didn’t have the budget to secure your network. Am I right? So, in order to prevent a ransomware gang from infiltrating your network, you could just give them what they want—all your data. The seemingly preferred meth...

“Hilariously insecure”: Andrew Tate’s The Real World breached, 800,000 users affected

Andrew Tate's online education platform The Real World—formerly known as Hustlers University—has been hacked and user data has been stolen. Hacktivists flooded the primary chatroom with emojis as proof that they had breached the site. After this they shared approximately 794,000 usernames of,...

San Francisco’s fight against deepfake porn, with City Attorney David Chiu (Lock and Code S05E20)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … On August 15, the city of San Francisco launched an entirely new fight against the world of deepfake porn—it sued the websites that make the abusive material so easy to create. “Deepfakes,” as they’re often called, are fake images and videos that utilize...

Planned Parenthood partly offline after ransomware attack

In late August, Intermountain Planned Parenthood of Montana suffered a cyberattack which is still under investigation. The attack has been claimed by a ransomware group. Intermountain Planned Parenthood Inc., doing business as Planned Parenthood Of Montana, is a nonprofit organization that provid...

A week in security (August 26 – September 1)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Iranian cybercriminals are targeting WhatsApp users in spear phishing campaign Fake Canva home page leads to browser lock Telegram CEO Pavel Durov charged with allowing criminal activity CODAC Behavioral Healthcare, US Marshalls are latest ransomware targets SMS...

Windows update may present users with a BitLocker recovery screen

Some Windows users may see a BitLocker Recovery screen after applying the Microsoft patch Tuesday updates. BitLocker is a Windows security feature that encrypts entire drives. It prevents someone that has obtained a stolen or lost device from reading the files stored on that drive. Unfortunately,...

Jackson County hit by ransomware, declares state of emergency

On April 2, 2024, Jackson County tweeted that it had identified significant disruptions within its IT systems, "potentially attributable to a ransomware attack". Jackson County is one of 114 counties in Missouri, with a population of approximately 718,000 people, mostly in Kansas City. We have...

Pegasus spyware creator ordered to reveal code used to spy on WhatsApp users

A California federal judge has ordered spyware maker NSO Group to hand over the code for Pegasus and other spyware products that were used to spy on WhatsApp users. Meta-owned WhatsApp has been fighting NSO in court since 2019, after Pegasus was allegedly used against 1,400 WhatsApp users over th...

ChatGPT accused of breaking data protection rules

Italys Data Protection Authority GPDP has uncovered data privacy violations related to collecting personal data and age protections after an inquiry into OpenAI’s ChatGPT. OpenAI has 30 days to respond with a defense. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence AI chatbot that can engage in conversatio...

A week in security (January 15 – January 21)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Google failing to scrub abortion access in location history, study claims Google changes wording for Incognito browsing in Chrome CISA urges urgent patching of two actively exploited Citrix NetScaler vulnerabilities Cybersecurity spend to soar in 2024: How companie...

A week in security (December 25 – December 31)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: How to recognize AI-generated phishing mails How ransomware operators try to stay under the radar 4 sneaky scams from 2023 The top 4 ransomware gang failures of 2023 Have a safe 2024! Our business solutions remove all remnants of ransomware and prevent you from...

Meta’s Purple Llama wants to test safety risks in AI models

Meta has announced Purple Llama, a project that aims to "bring together tools and evaluations to help the community build responsibly with open generative AI models." Generative Artificial Intelligence AI models have been around for years and their main function, compared to older AI models is th...

Why a ransomware gang tattled on its victim, with Allan Liska: Lock and Code S04E24

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… Like the grade-school dweeb who reminds their teacher to assign tonights homework, or the power-tripping homeowner who threatens every neighbor with an HOA citation, the ransomware group ALPHV can now add itself to a shameful roster of pathetic, little...

Will ChatGPT write ransomware? Yes.

This morning I decided to write some ransomware, and I asked ChatGPT to help. Not because I wanted to turn to a life of crime, but because I wanted to see if anything had changed since March, when I last tried the same exact thing. In short: ChatGPT has helped me, worryingly so. But more on that...

Ransomware gang files SEC complaint about victim

In what seems to be a new twist on the ransomware theme, the notorious ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group has filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC about the software company MeridianLink. ALPHV is one of the most active ransomware-as-a-service RaaS operators and...

Alarm system cyberattack leaves those in need struggling to call for help

An alarm system company that allows those in need to ask for help at the touch of a button has suffered a cyberattack, causing serious disruption. Tunstall Netherlands says the attack left the control room struggling to receive distress calls from clients on Sunday November 12, 2023. Tunstall,...

Face search engine PimEyes stops searches of children’s faces

In what may come as a surprise, subscription-based face search engine PimEyes seems to have realized that their service can be used for nefarious purposes. PimEyes’ CEO Giorgi Gobronidze told the New York Times that it has taken technical measures to block such searches as part of a “no harm...

A week in security (October 16 – October 22)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Ragnar Locker ransomware group taken down IT administrators passwords are awful too The hot topics from Europes largest trade fair for IT security Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to look like KeePasss official website 3 crucial security steps people should...

Gen Z fears physical violence from being online more than anyone else, Malwarebytes finds

The "version history" of the internet was split by what we could do online--simple browsing across Web 1.0s static web pages, instant connection throughout Web 2.0s social platforms, and, into the future, potential new forms of ownership within Web 3.0s dreams of decentralization. But, as...

A week in security (September 25 - October 1)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Dependabot impersonators cause trouble on GitHub Update Chrome now! Google patches another actively exploited vulnerability Googles Bard conversations turn up in search results Malicious ad served inside Bing's AI chatbot Pegasus spyware and how it exploited a WebP...

Malicious ad served inside Bing's AI chatbot

In February 2023, Microsoft disclosed its new AI-assisted search engine, Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4. Even though Google has been dominating the search industry for years, this event was significant enough to generate not only interest but also plant the seed for a possible change in the...

Malwarebytes MDR wins G2 awards for "Best ROI," "Easiest to Use," and more

Malwarebytes Managed Detection and Response MDR earned a placed in 12 new reports on G2s Fall 2023 reports, winning badges for "Easiest to do Business With," "Best Est. ROI," "Easiest to Use," and "Easiest Admin." Purpose-built for resource constrained teams, Malwarebytes MDR provides IT staff wi...

What does a car need to know about your sex life? Lock and Code S04E20

This week on the Lock and Code podcast... When you think of the modern tools that most invade your privacy, what do you picture? There's the obvious answers, like social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram. There's email and "everything" platforms like Google that can track your...

PSA: Ongoing Webex malvertising campaign drops BatLoader

A new malvertising campaign is targeting corporate users who are downloading the popular web conferencing software Webex. Threat actors have bought an advert that impersonates Cisco's brand and is displayed first when performing a Google search. We are releasing this blog to warn users about this...

Wyze home cameras temporarily show other people's security feeds

A mishap has resulted in security feeds and camera logs from home cameras being temporarily visible online. Users of Wyze, makers of smart products and home cameras, fell victim to this bizarre incident sometime around September 8. One of the first posts about this appeared on Reddit, where a use...

How Microsoft's highly secure environment was breached

An investigation by Microsoft has finally revealed how China-based hackers circumvented the protections of a "highly isolated and restricted production environment" in May 2023 to unlock sensitive email accounts belonging to US government agencies. The attack was first reported by Microsoft in...

A week in security (August 28 - September 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: 2.6 million DuoLingo users have scraped data released Google strengthens its Workplace suite protection Meal delivery service PurFoods announces major data breach Cisco VPNs without MFA are under attack by ransomware operator "An influx of Elons," a hospital visit,...

Cisco VPNs without MFA are under attack by ransomware operator

The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team PSIRT has posted a blog about Akira ransomware targeting VPNs without Multi-Factor Authentication MFA. The Cisco team states that it is aware of reports of the Akira ransomware group going specifically after Cisco VPNs that are not configured for...

Google strengthens its Workplace suite protection

Google has announced the strengthening of safeguard measures for its Workspace customers. You may well be using Workspace without realising it. If youre using a Google product such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, or Google Docs Editors Suite among other apps, then congratulations: you are fully inside...

Several hospitals still counting the cost of widespread ransomware attack

The 16 hospitals struck down by ransomware last week are still dealing with the fallout from the attack. The healthcare facilities located in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, and California had the ransomware attack confirmed by the FBI. Issues started to emerge last Thursday with patient...

Voter data stolen in UK Electoral Commission systems breach

The UK's Electoral Commission has revealed it suffered a compromise which has the potential to expose aspects of registered voters' data. While much of this data may already be public, there are some privacy and safety concerns to consider. First of all, lets take a look at whats been affected. T...

Server breach could be fatal blow for LetMeSpy

A mobile app designed to let people spy on others will shortly be going out of business after a server breach and mass deletion incident. The app, LetMeSpy, sits silently and invisibly on a phone and collects call logs, location data, and even text messages. This kind of program is commonly...

Plane sailing for ticket scammers: How to keep your flight plans safe

You may be getting ready to jump on a plane and head off for a few days or weeks of rest and relaxation. So the last thing you need before flying is a technology related horror show. Sadly, scammers are aware of families getting ready to hit the skies, and have tailored their threats accordingly...