Tackling the myths surrounding cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an act most of us are familiar with. Knowing what it is, who're involved, and its harmful effects to targets are easy enough to identify; but do you know that cyberbullying is surrounded by misconceptions, too? In this post, we have identified six of these myths, explained why...

Please stop posting your X-rays to social media

Social media is fun. Posting pictures and sharing them with friends is a great technology. But please, we beg you, stop posting your medical imaging results to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Why? What if you get a gnarly fracture from a really awesome snowboarding stunt and you want to share...

Man seeking love travels 2,000 km to meet an AI-generated woman

A 49-year-old bricklayer sold his belongings before traveling 2,000 km by bus from his home in Brazil to meet “Jéssica,” an online influencer he had fallen for. Yet despite having a social media account with more than 300,000 followers, she never existed. Edimar Rocha Martins lives in Imperatriz,...

AOMEI Backupper update servers hijacked to push malware: Check your PC

The Google Threat Intelligence Group GTIG reports that attackers compromised AOMEI Technology’s update and notification infrastructure in a campaign investigated between April and July. AOMEI Backupper is backup software that the company says is used by more than 100 million people worldwide. It...

Eiliko robot companion exposes private chats and can be hijacked

The Verge reports that Eiliko, a small AI robot companion made by Energize Lab, has serious security flaws that expose private conversations and let an attacker remotely change what the toy says. According to The Verge, researcher Sammy Azdoufal could access 13 million conversations and what...

Your car’s app could be telling Big Tech who you are and where you go

A study testing 21 cars from 19 brands and 30 companion apps found connections to advertising and tracking companies, and evidence that some apps shared sensitive personal data. Modern cars can unlock remotely, route around traffic, stream entertainment, summon roadside help, and cool or heat the...

LinkedIn adds new checks for fake profiles and work histories

LinkedIn is adding trust and verification features aimed at making fake professional identities, invented work histories, and company impersonation harder to pull off. The company is responding to an environment in which generative AI enables imposters to create an entirely made-up professional...

OpenAI agent breached Australian government site, took months to report it

An OpenAI agent didn’t take “no” for an answer when it encountered a government website’s access controls. It got through, prompting Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise his concerns directly with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The BBC reports that an OpenAI agent gained unauthorized acce...

MikroTik router flaws allow takeover without a password

CERT Polska warns that attackers are actively exploiting a chain of critical MikroTik RouterOS flaws to seize control of routers exposed to the internet. Although the warning comes from Poland’s national cybersecurity response team, MikroTik routers are sold worldwide, including in the US. The...

StreamRat Android malware spreads through Meta and TikTok ads

A malicious advertising campaign promoting a fake free TV-streaming service reached roughly 570,000 Meta users. The researchers who discovered the campaign found that its streaming-themed ads were aimed at Spanish-speaking users, with most observed victims located in Spain. One Meta campaign ran...

Tech support scams look different now. Here’s what to watch for

In a tech support scam, criminals pretend to work for a trusted technology or security company. They claim there is a problem with your device, software, subscription, or account, then try to persuade you to pay them, share personal information, or give them remote access to your computer. These...

Infostealers are hijacking Claude accounts at users’ expense

Anthropic has warned some Claude users that criminals are using information stealers to take over their accounts. Rather than guessing passwords or intercepting two-factor authentication 2FA codes, the attackers steal the browser sessions that prove a user is already logged in. According to a...

Heights Finance data breach: What customers need to know

Heights Finance Holdings' online data breach notification says an unauthorized party accessed a third-party cloud platform containing customer data, potentially exposing highly sensitive personal, banking, and identity information. Heights Finance is a consumer lender that offers personal...

WhatsApp is testing a new warning for scam messages

Meta announced it’s rolling out a new feature for WhatsApp users in the fight against scammers. Scam Alert is an optional beta feature that uses an on-device machine-learning model to flag likely scam messages from people who are not in a user’s contacts. The Scam Alert feature arrives as scammer...

Love/hate relationship: The AI affair. Young people love AI, but it’s breaking their trust

Young people use AI for everything. From schoolwork to interview prep, relationship advice to shopping decisions, the technology has become part of how young people live. For the most digitally fluent generation ever, AI is a competitive edge, a creative partner, and an always-on assistant. But t...

Hackers steal passport and driver’s license data of 3 million Texans

You can change a password and cancel a card. But replacing a passport or driver's license number every time someone leaves yours unsecured in a vendor database isn't so easy. More than three million Texans are facing that problem after a data breach involving a vendor used by the Texas Parks and...

How cyberattacks on companies affect everyone

If you use the internet, you’ve likely been affected by cybercrime in some way. Even when an attack is aimed at a company, the fallout usually lands on ordinary people. The most obvious harm is stolen data. When attackers break into a business, it is usually customer information that ends up in...

Android 17 ends all-or-nothing access to your contacts

Some of the apps on your phone want your contacts. Most don't need them all, but have been happily slurping up the lot for years. Google has decided to do something about that with the next version of Android. Android 17 currently in preview is introducing a new Contact Picker that lets users gra...

Scammers pose as Amazon support to steal your account

Cybercriminals using the so-called "spray and pray" tactic love to impersonate well-known brands. Especially ones with huge customer bases. Amazon reportedly has around 310 million active customers, so they certainly qualify as a brand worth impersonating. And it shows in the sheer volume of scam...

Bogus Avast website fakes virus scan, installs Venom Stealer instead

A fake website impersonating Avast antivirus is tricking people into infecting their own computers. The site looks legitimate, runs what appears to be a virus scan, and claims your system is full of threats. But the results are fake: when you’re prompted to “fix” the problem, the download you’re...

Phishers hide scam links with IPv6 trick in “free toothbrush” emails

A recurring lure in phishing emails impersonating United Healthcare is the promise of a free Oral-B toothbrush. But the interesting part isn’t the toothbrush. It’s the link. Two examples of phishing emails Recently we found that these phishers have moved from using Microsoft Azure Blob Storage...

Ring doorbells: Won’t you see my neighbor? (Lock and Code S07E05)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … On February 8, during the Super Bowl in the United States, countless owners of one of the most popular smart products today got a bit of a wakeup call: Their Ring doorbells could be used to see a whole lot more than they knew. In a commercial that was...

Developer creates app to detect nearby smart glasses

An independent developer, moved after reading about the abuse of smart glasses to film people without their consent, decided to create an app to detect nearby smart glasses. Smart glasses are wearable devices built into ordinary-looking eyewear that add functions like audio, cameras, sensors, and...

Update Chrome now: Zero-day bug allows code execution via malicious webpages

Google has issued a patch for a high‑severity Chrome zero‑day, tracked as CVE‑2026‑2441, a memory bug in how the browser handles certain font features that attackers are already exploiting. CVE-2026-2441 has the questionable honor of being the first Chrome zero-day of 2026. Google considered it...

Discord will limit profiles to teen-appropriate mode until you verify your age

Discord announced it will put all existing and new profiles in teen-appropriate mode by default in early March. The teen-appropriate profile mode will remain in place until users prove they are adults. To change a profile to “full access” will require verification by Discord’s age inference model...

A week in security (January 26 – February 1)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Match, Hinge, OkCupid, and Panera Bread breached by ransomware group TikTok’s privacy update mentions immigration status. Here’s why. Meta confirms it’s working on premium subscription for its apps Microsoft Office zero-day lets malicious documents slip past securi...

TikTok’s privacy update mentions immigration status. Here’s why.

In 2026, could any five words be more chilling than “We’re changing our privacy terms?” The timing could not have been worse for TikTok US when it sent millions of US users a mandatory privacy pop-up on January 22. The message forced users to accept updated terms if they wanted to keep using the...

Data broker fined after selling Alzheimer’s patient info and millions of sensitive profiles

California's privacy regulator has fined a Texas data broker $45,000 and banned it from selling Californians' personal information after it sold Alzheimer patients' data. Texan company Rickenbacher Data LLC, which does business as Datamasters, bought and resold the names, addresses, phone numbers...

Celebrating reviews and recognitions for Malwarebytes in 2025

Independent recognition matters in cybersecurity, and it matters a lot to us. It shows how security products perform when they’re tested against in-the-wild threats, using lab environments designed to reflect what people actually face in the real world. In 2025, Malwarebytes earned awards and...

Photo booth flaw exposes people’s private pictures online

Photo booths are great. You press a button and get instant results. The same can’t be said, allegedly, for the security practices of at least one company operating them. A security researcher spent weeks trying to warn a photo booth operator about a vulnerability in its system. The flaw reportedl...

The US digital doxxing of H-1B applicants is a massive privacy misstep

Technology professionals hoping to come and work in the US face a new privacy concern. Starting December 15, skilled workers on H-1B visas and their families must flip their social media profiles to public before their consular interviews. It’s a deeply risky move from a security and privacy...

How phishers hide banking scams behind free Cloudflare Pages

During a recent investigation, we uncovered a phishing operation that combines free hosting on developer platforms with compromised legitimate websites to build convincing banking and insurance login portals. These fake pages don't just grab a username and password–they also ask for answers to...

Millions at risk after nationwide CodeRED alert system outage and data breach

A nationwide cyberattack against the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notifications system has prompted cities and counties across the US to warn residents and advise them to change their passwords. CodeRED is used by local governments to deliver fast, targeted alerts during severe weather, evacuations,...

Stolen iPhones are locked tight, until scammers phish your Apple ID credentials

One of the reassuring things about owning an iPhone was knowing you could lock it if it got lost or stolen. Without your passcode, fingerprint or face to unlock it, it would be useless to anyone else. Now, though, some phone thieves have found a workaround, not by breaking Apple's security, but b...

A week in security (November 3 – November 9)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Malwarebytes scores 100% in AV-Comparatives Stalkerware Test 2025 Fake CAPTCHA sites now have tutorial videos to help victims install malware Hackers commit highway robbery, stealing cargo and goods Android malware steals your card details and PIN to make instant A...

Attack of the clones: Fake ChatGPT apps are everywhere

The mobile AI gold rush has flooded app stores with lookalikes—shiny, convincing apps promising “AI image generation,” “smart chat,” or “instant productivity.” But behind the flashy logos lurks a spectrum of fake apps, from harmless copycats to outright spyware. Spoofing trusted brands like...

Would you sext ChatGPT? (Lock and Code S06E22)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … In the final, cold winter months of the year, ChatGPT could be heating up. On October 14, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the "restrictions" that his company previously placed on their flagship product, ChatGPT, would be removed, allowing, perhaps, for...

Gmail breach panic? It’s a misunderstanding, not a hack

After a misinterpretation of an interview with a security researcher, several media outlets hinted at a major Gmail breach. Reporters claimed the incident took place in April. In reality, the researcher had said there was an enormous amount of Gmail usernames and passwords circulating on the dark...

What does Google know about me? (Lock and Code S06E21)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … Google is everywhere in our lives. It's reach into our data extends just as far. After investigating how much data Facebook had collected about him in his nearly 20 years with the platform, Lock and Code host David Ruiz had similar questions about the othe...

From threats to apology, hackers pull child data offline after public backlash

Last week we yelled at some “hackers” that threatened parents after stealing data from their children's nursery. This followed a BBC report that a group calling itself “Radiant” claimed to have stolen sensitive data related to around 8,000 children from nursery chain Kido, which operates in the U...

Sendit tricked kids, harvested their data, and faked messages, FTC claims

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has sued Sendit’s parent company, saying it signed up children under 13, collected their personal data, and misled them with fake messages and recurring bills. The lawsuit, filed against the app's owner Iconic Hearts Holdings Inc and CEO Hunter Rice, alleges the...

A week in security (September 8 – September 14)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: AI browsers or agentic browsers: a look at the future of web surfing From Fitbit to financial despair: How one woman lost her life savings and more to a scammer Meta ignored child sex abuse in VR, say whistleblowers When AI chatbots leak and how it happens Fake...

Ransomware attack at blood center: Org tells users their data’s been stolen

A blood center has begun sending data breach notifications to its users after suffering a ransomware attack and theft of personal data. The New York Blood Center’s NYBC suffered the ransomware attack in January, in which an unauthorized party gained access to its network and acquired copies of a...

A week in security (September 1 – September 7)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Nexar dashcam video database hacked Roblox introduces age checks to use communication features Give your PC a fresh start: New free tools to boost your PC’s speed, security, and peace of mind TP-Link warns of botnet infecting routers and targeting Microsoft 365...

77 malicious apps removed from Google Play Store

Google has removed 77 malicious apps from the Google Play Store. Before they were removed, researchers at ThreatLabz discovered the apps had been installed over 19 million times. One of the malware families discovered by the researchers is a banking Trojan known as Anatsa or TeaBot. This banking...

Russians hacked US courts, say investigators

Russia is after secret files in the US court system, according to reports this week—and its hackers appear to have reached at least some of them. Last week, news broke of a successful cyberattack against the decades-old US court filing system. Called Case Management/Electronic Case Files CM/ECF,...

Scam hunter scammed by tax office impersonators

The next time you shake your head at another online scam and vow that you'd never fall for it, remember that even the most tech-savvy people can sometimes slip up. A case in point: Julie-Anne Kearns. This self-made scam-hunter told her story to the Guardian last week, revealing how she had been...

That seemingly innocent text is probably a scam

A special thanks to all the people at Malwarebytes and ThreatDown for sharing the text messages they received from scammers. Many of us have received texts like these. Often super short, some flirty, some with a business tone, or sometimes just a simple ‘hello.’ You don't know the sender, and the...

VPN use rises following Online Safety Act’s age verification controls

As the UK's Online Safety Act came into effect on Friday—along with its age verification controls—the use of virtual private network VPN services has skyrocketed by up to 20-fold across the region. Top10VPN, which monitors VPN traffic around the world, spotted UK VPN traffic spiking 1,327% on Jul...

Steam games abused to deliver malware once again

A cybercriminal known as EncryptHub aka Larva-208 has reportedly abused the online game platform Steam to distribute information stealers. EncryptHub managed to sneak malicious files into the Chemia game files hosted on Steam. Chemia is an adventurous survival type of game that puts the player in...