Stop! Are you putting sensitive company data into ChatGPT?

Helping to reduce costs and enhance productivity are both things that your employer will look kindly upon. But what if you use an external tool for those tasks and the tasks involve confidential data that ended up on a server outside of the control of your company? Thats a problem. As a news writ...

9 vital criteria for effective endpoint security: Insights from the 'Endpoint Security Evaluation Guide' eBook

Endpoint security has never been more important, and with the increasing complexity of the security stack, choosing the right solution can be confusing. The good news is that there is a guide available to help organizations navigate this complex landscape: the "Endpoint Security Evaluation Guide"...

Solving the password’s hardest problem with passkeys, featuring Anna Pobletts

How many passwords do you have? If you're at all like our Lock and Code host David Ruiz, that number hovers around 200. But the important follow up question is: How many of those passwords can you actually remember on your own? Prior studies suggest a number that sounds nearly...

National Cybersecurity Strategy Document: What you need to know

The US Government has been working on the National Cybersecurity Strategy Document 2023 for some time now, and its finally been released. The strategy document, which replaces the last such piece of work from 2018, attempts to indicate the general direction of the US approach to cybercrime and...

Malwarebytes recognized as endpoint security leader by G2

G2 has released their Winter 2023 reports, ranking Malwarebytes as the leader across a number of endpoint protection categories. Based on verified customer reviews, Malwarebytes has been ranked 1 over top EDR vendors for endpoint malware and antivirus protection, detection and remediation of...

Beware fake Facebook emails saying "your page has been disabled"

Facebook users need to be on their guard for bogus emails claiming to be from Facebook, that tell users their account has been disabled. The emails make use of the classic "apply some pressure" tactics so beloved of scammers everywhere. A missive that makes you shrug wont get you clicking bogus...

GitHub revokes several certificates after unauthorized access

In a call to action, GitHub warned users of GitHub Desktop for Mac and Atom that it will revoke certificates which were exposed during unauthorized access to a set of repositories used in the planning and development of GitHub Desktop and Atom. Revoking these certificates will invalidate some...

Video game playing FISH live streams credit card 'theft'

A fish is in hot water metaphorically speaking after having performed some incredible antics on a video game live stream. The fish, known for playing popular video game titles to completion on live streams, decided to take that whole gamer lifestyle thing a little too far and went on a rip-roarin...

What privacy can get you

The fight for data privacy must be won in the middle. No declaration, no call to arms, will sway the worst offenders. No public swell, no great big hack, has changed how money gets made. Corporations will continue to reap our data, package it into ad-friendly profiles, and, for a price, deliver t...

US school district sues Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok over harm to kids

Public schools in a Seattle district filed a lawsuit on Friday against parent companies of the biggest social networks on the internet, alleging social media is to blame for "a youth mental health crisis", and saying these companies have purposefully designed, refined, and operated their platform...

Security vulnerabilities in major car brands revealed

Your car potentially hasnt "just" been a car for a long time. With multiple digital systems, vehicles are increasingly plugged into web applications and digital processes. These systems tie into everything from passwords and web chat systems for car company employees, to file repositories and oth...

LA housing authority is latest LockBit ransomware victim

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles HACLA, established in 1938 to provide affordable housing in Los Angeles, confirmed in a statement that it was a victim of a ransomware cyberattack. This is the second major attack against an agency in LA after the Los Angeles United School District...

A week in security (December 19 - 25)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: 4 over-hyped security vulnerabilities of 2022 Chasing cryptocurrency through cyberspace, with Brian Carter: Lock and Code S03E26 Restaurant platform SevenRooms confirms data breach Adult popunder campaign used in mainstream ad fraud scheme Malwarebytes earns AV-TES...

Epic Games introduces safer accounts for kids

Epic have made some alterations to how accounts for kids work, with multiple features disabled for what are now known as "Cabined Accounts". If your children are big fans of Epic games like Fortnite and Rocket League, you may well have worried about their gaming interactions with other players at...

"Baby dumped at the gate" post is a Facebook hoax

Every so often, bizarre but oddly believable scams do the rounds on Facebook. And so we have the latest: A tragic tale of a lost baby left outside the gate of someones house. The abandoned baby Facebook hoax springs into action A post made to Facebook December 1st by someone claiming to be in the...

Chrome users, you have 3 months to say goodbye to Windows 7 and 8.1

After keeping Chrome running on early Windows versions for two extra years, giving IT administrators time to update, Google has decided it won't delay any further: Unless organizations upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 next year, they won't be able to use Chrome. Browsers based on Chrome, such as Brave...

Suspected LAPSUS$ group member arrested in Brazil

The Brazilian Federal Police have arrested a suspect after an investigation into last year's breach of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Responsibility for the breach was claimed by the LAPSUS$ group, when users found a message stating that system data had been copied and deleted and was in the...

Man scammed IRL for a phone he sold online

If youre looking to sell an item which youve advertised online, be on your guard. Even when everything looks to be working as it should, things can go wrong very quickly as one unfortunate IT graduate recently discovered. You would think that theres no way the in-person sale of an expensive devic...

Criminal group busted after stealing hundreds of keyless cars

Europol has disclosed an international operation in which 31 suspects were arrested, 22 locations were searched, and over one million Euros in criminal assets were seized. The organized criminal gang specialized in stealing French keyless cars. Among the arrested were the software developers that...

Meta accuses apps of stealing WhatsApp accounts

Meta is attempting to clamp down on rogue WhatsApp-styled applications which originate from China. Bleeping Computer reports that no fewer than one million WhatsApp accounts have been compromised, allegedly as a result of using these apps which are claimed to bundle malware. Dubious apps The apps...

Credential stuffers take aim at Final Fantasy XIV players

Square Enix, the company behind video games like Final Fantasy XIV, reports that a third party is attempting to gain access to its Account Management System. How is this happening, and what are the risks? More importantly, what do you need to do to ensure your accounts are safe from harm?...

White House unveils Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

On Tuesday, the Biden-Harris Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy OSTP unveiled a new Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which lists five principles to guide the design, use, and development of intelligence-based automated systems "to protect the American public in the age of...

A week in security (October 3 – 9)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Romance scammer deepfakes Mark Ruffalo to con elderly artist Actively exploited vulnerability in Bitbucket Server and Data Center Ransomware-affected school district refuses to pay, gets stolen data released Ransomware review: September 2022 Huge increase in smishi...

Data Access Agreement offers a new path for UK - US data requests

Requesting data for the purposes of law enforcement may be about to become a little easier for the British Government. The Data Access Agreement DAA went live on Monday this week. The DAA is authorised by something called the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data CLOUD Act, which itself has come...

Huge increase in smishing scams, warns IRS

The Internal Revenue Service IRS has issued a warning for taxpayers about a recent increase in IRS-themed smishing scams aimed at stealing personal and financial information. Smishing is short for SMS phishing, where the phishes are sent via text message. The IRS has identified and reported...

Spyware disguises itself as Zoom downloads

Zoom video call software continues to be a staple in work environments. Despite a slow, post-lockdown easing back to the "old normal," many businesses still have remote workers, or people working in different geographies. It's no surprise then to see criminals continuing to abuse Zoom's popularit...

FCC moves to block robotexts

The American people are fed up with scam texts, and we need to use every tool we have to do something about it. This is what Jessica Rosenworcel, Chairwoman of the US Federal Communications Commission FCC said after releasing a plan that will require mobile carriers to block "robotext" text...

Vulnerability response for SMBs: The Malwarebytes approach

The intel you need to secure your business--delivered straight to your inbox From industry tips and best practices to the latest Malwarebytes product releases and how-tos, our Business newsletter is chock-full with the best of our business blog. Subscribe to our Business newsletter today. At...

Update now! QNAP warns users DeadBolt is exploiting Photo Station vulnerability

QNAP Quality Network Appliance Provider has warned users to update Photo Station to the latest available version. The warning comes after QNAP detected that cybercriminals known as DeadBolt have been exploiting a Photo Station vulnerability in order to encrypt QNAP NAS systems that are directly...

Data broker sued for allegedly selling individuals' sensitive location data

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has sued data broker Kochava for allegedly selling information that would allow for individuals whereabouts to be traced to sensitive locations. The information included location data from hundreds of millions of phones, including sensitive locations that could be...

Anti-tracking tool tells you if you're being followed

If there is one thing we know about the people around us, even the perfect strangers, it's that they almost all have smartphones. And those smartphones aren't merely passive receivers, they're broadcasting constantly, looking for things you might want to connect to. Advertisers have exploited the...

Now it's BlenderBot's turn to make shocking, inappropriate, and untrue remarks

Last Friday, Meta unveiled its new BlenderBot 3 AI chatbot, a conversational AI prototype. The company said its chatbot is designed to learn by having natural conversations with people online. It also improves its skills via human feedback. Meta also asserts with confidence that the more the AI...

Bank fraud scammers trick victims with claims of bogus Zelle transfers

It pays to be careful where cold calls from someone claiming to work for your bank are concerned. Scam callers are impersonating bank staff, with suggestions of dubious payments made to your account. One unfortunate individual has already lost around $1,000 to this slice of telephone-banking base...

Facebook gets round tracking privacy measure by encrypting links

A form of individual tracking specific to your web browser is at the heart of a currently contested privacy battle, and one which Facebook has just got the upper hand to. This type of tracking involves adding additional parameters to the URLs that you click on a daily basis. When you click one of...

RansomHouse claims to have stolen at least 450GB of AMD’s data

AMD is investigating the claim that the RansomHouse extortion group has its hands on more than 450GB of the companys data. AMDs breach revelation came to light after RansomHouse teased on Telegram about selling data belonging to a popular three-letter company that starts with the letter A. The...

Police seize and dismantle massive phishing operation

Europol has coordinated a joint operation to arrest members of a cybercrime gang and effectively dismantle their campaigns that netted million in Euros. This operation also led the Belgian Police Police Fédérale/Federale Politie and the Dutch Police Politie to nine arrests, 24 house searches, and...

Internet Safety Month: 7 tips for staying safe online while on vacation

Going on vacation has never been more talked about and anticipated. I mean—for many of us, its been a while. But before you get lost in dreamy thoughts of sun, sea, and sand, you might want to set aside some time to plan on how to keep your devices, and your data, safe while you are relaxing Your...

Instagram scam steals your selfies to trick your friends

What would you do if a friend of yours set up a NSFW account, and then used it to follow you on Instagram? Would you check it out? We recently learned of a group of friends who had to ask themselves exactly that. Fortunately, they realised that something was off. The account wasnt the real owners...

Internet Safety Month: Parental controls—what they can and can’t do for you

Parental controls can be useful to limit the risks your children run into online, but you should know up front that they cannot eliminate every risk out there. Parents and adults everywhere are understandably having a hard time keeping up with the favored social networks of children and...

Instagram verification services: What are the dangers?

Instagram, like other social platforms, has a verification system for high profile accounts. A verified badge means Instagram has confirmed that the account is the authentic presence of a public figure, celebrity or brand. Have you ever wanted to get your own account verified? We noticed a large...

How to update your drivers and when you need to

Many software vendors have a driver updater in their arsenal. But is it really that important to have the latest computer drivers? Where do you get them? And how do you go about updating? Driver updates fix security and compatibility problems, errors, broken code, and sometimes even add features ...

City: Skylines developers warn of rogue mod

Players of the popular city-building simulator and video game City: Skylines need to check devices for rogue code lurking in mods related to a rework of something called Harmony, essential for modding across several titles. The threat arrives in a broader landscape—video game modding—already know...

A week in security (February 7 – February 13)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Securitas breached, 3TB of airport employee records exposed How to avoid being scammed this Valentine’s Day News Corp falls victim to cyberattack “We absolutely do not care about you”: Sugar ransomware targets individuals Microsoft takes macros out of the equation...

Securitas breached, 3TB of airport employee records exposed

An unsecured AWS server, found open to the public Internet, is the root cause of a huge compromise of data of airport employees in Colombia and Peru. This server, according to a report, belongs to Securitas, a Stockholm-based multinational company that provides security services like security...

Dark Souls servers taken offline over hacking fears

There’s been trouble brewing over the weekend for players of the smash-hit Dark Souls series. PvP servers player vs player were temporarily shut down by the developers after a hack. PvP servers for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls: Remastered have been temporarily deactivated to allow t...

Steer clear of gift card balance scams

Rogue ads are a problem-causing menace which can strike in many ways. Malvertising often uses a combination of exploits to drop malware. Phishing campaigns get the job done with social engineering and bogus websites. This particular incident is an example of the latter, and a good reminder to be...

Why we don’t patch, with Jess Dodson: Lock and Code S03E02

In 2017, the largest ransomware attack ever recorded hit the world, infecting more than 230,000 computers across more than 150 countries in just 24 hours. And it could have been solved with a patch that was released nearly two months prior. This was the WannaCry ransomware attack, and its final,...

FIFA 22 phishers tackle customer support with social engineering

Players of smash hit gaming title FIFA 22 have become the target of a wave of attacks focused on account compromise. Up to 50 “high profile” accounts were hijacked by what may have been the same group. FIFA games are, traditionally, a big draw for scammers and phishers. Many sports titles offer...

Most people aren’t upgrading to Windows 11: Not the end of the world

Windows 11 is experiencing an apparent lack of uptake among Windows users. If this survey is accurate, less than 1% of 10 million PCs surveyed are running the new operating system. In fact, more machines are using Windows XP. That may surprise you. It might even seem like a bit of an embarrassing...

Could Apple’s new MacBooks signal a change in direction on security?

Apple recently announced a new line of completely overhauled MacBook Pros. Much has been written about their new design, new chips, new displays, new keyboards etc, but I thought I detected something else that might be new about these MacBooks too: A new approach. The updated laptops may be the...