Vatican’s Click To Pray app exposed personal data from 700,000 users

A prayer app launched by Pope Francis in 2019 contained a security flaw that exposed the personal information of hundreds of thousands of users before it was finally fixed this year. The app, Click To Pray, was developed by La Machi Communication for Good Causes for the Pope's Worldwide Prayer...

Beyond the Play Store: How Android threats really spread

You probably think of your phone's security the way you think of your front door: as long as you're downloading apps from the Play Store, you're safe. And for the most part, that's true. Google reviews apps before they’re published. But some apps reach your phone without ever passing through the...

Chick-fil-A loyalty accounts hijacked using stolen passwords

Fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is warning customers after attackers hijacked loyalty accounts using stolen passwords in a credential stuffing attack. Chick-fil-A says it detected suspicious login activity against some Chick-fil-A One accounts in June and launched an investigation. The company later...

New ClickLock Stealer locks your Mac until you hand over your password

ClickLock Stealer is a new, modular macOS infostealer delivered via ClickFix-style phishing pages that can lock a victim’s Mac, steal their macOS password, browser and password manager data, cryptocurrency wallets, and then leave behind a persistent backdoor. The malware was discovered by Group-I...

The backlash against Flock cameras is spreading

Flock-style ALPR systems carry serious privacy and civil-liberties risks, and the backlash is now starting to show up in agency decisions too. For those not yet familiar with Flock, Flock Safety operates an automated license plate recognition ALPR system that uses cameras and computer vision to...

Samsung backs down on threat to delete health data

If you pay for something, you expect it to work as intended. The vendor shouldn't start turning features off just because you won't accept its new rules. Someone should tell Samsung, which just upset users of its health app by threatening exactly that—before changing course after a user backlash...

Warning: Scammers are using FaceTime to empty bank accounts

Apple is urging users to treat any suspicious FaceTime call or message as untrusted, especially if it involves payments, refunds, password resets, or requests for personal information. This warning appears in a broader Apple support article about scams that target iPhone and iPad users through...

The inside job that cost ransomware victims millions

When a ransomware crew locks up your servers, the outside negotiator you hire has to know everything about you so that they can negotiate a smaller ransom payment. You tell them what your cyber-insurance covers and what your board is willing to pay. You have to. That's the whole reason you hire...

How mule betting scams recruit ordinary people

Mule betting or third-party betting account scams are a form of money mule scam where criminals recruit or coerce people into opening gambling accounts in their own name. The criminals then use those accounts to place bets to help launder money and obscure the source or ownership of funds. The UK...

Chrome needs another whopper update to fix 382 security bugs

If there was ever a time when it dawned on users how full of holes the software they’ve been using is, it’s now. Last month Microsoft pushed out its biggest patch Tuesday update ever. And yesterday, on the last day of June, Google published an update which included a whopping 382 security fixes...

Update Chrome to patch critical browser security flaws

Google released a security update for Chrome that fixes 18 vulnerabilities, including four rated Critical. There is no indication that any of these newly patched bugs are being actively exploited in the wild. The stable channel has been updated to 149.0.7827.196/197 for Windows and Mac and...

PixelSmash flaw turns video files into attack tools

A newly discovered vulnerability in FFmpeg’s MagicYUV decoder can turn a tiny, malformed video into a foothold for attackers. Researchers have disclosed PixelSmash, a critical vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-8461, in FFmpeg’s MagicYUV video decoder with a CVSS score of 8.8. By crafting a...

Cardiac patients’ medical data stolen and held to ransom

Cardiac monitoring provider iRhythm has been hit by a data theft followed by an extortion attempt. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, iRhythm revealed it was contacted by someone on June 9 who claimed to have stolen sensitive information, including proprietary data,...

Google Chrome’s silent 4GB AI download problem [updated]

Google Chrome has been quietly downloading a 4GB AI model onto users' devices without asking first. Security researcher Alexander Hanff, aka ThatPrivacyGuy, reports that Chrome has been silently installing Gemini Nano, Google's on-device AI model, as a file called weights.bin stored in the...

A week in security (April 13 – April 19)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: This old-school scam is still working "Your shipment has arrived" email hides remote access software Browser Guard gets even better with Access Control "iCloud storage is full" scam is back, and now it wants your payment details A fake Slack download is giving...

ClickFix finds a new way to infect Macs

ClickFix campaigns are looking for alternatives now that many Mac users have been made aware of the dangers of pasting certain commands into Terminal. Researchers found that ClickFix has kept the same social engineering playbook but completely sidestepped Terminal by using the applescript:// URL...

Your extensions leak clues about you, so we made sure Browser Guard doesn’t

Did you know you can be profiled based on the browser extensions you use? Advertisers can detect which extensions are installed and use that to build a picture of the kind of user you are. For instance, do you pride yourself on being a good online shopper who never pays full price? Maybe you use ...

New macOS security feature will alert users about possible ClickFix attacks

Rumor has it that Apple deployed a new security feature in the fight against ClickFix. The new feature will be available for macOS Tahoe 26.4 and it will warn Mac users if they paste certain commands into the Terminal app that might be harmful. If such a command is pasted, macOS will warn the use...

Hackers claim to have accessed data tied to millions of crime tipsters

Millions of crime tips may have been exposed after a hacker group claims to have compromised systems used by Crime Stoppers programs and other organizations worldwide. The incident centers on P3 Global Intel, a Texas-based provider of cloud-based tip and intelligence management software owned by...

Meet Khaled Mohamed: the bug hunter who found a Microsoft flaw

It’s only on rare occasions that anyone pays attention to the acknowledgment section of a vulnerability disclosure. But for the person who found the bug, it's often the conclusion of hours of work, trial and error, searching for recognition, and finally seeing the vulnerability get patched. Bug...

Advanced Flow will make Android sideloading safer

Google has announced the introduction of Advanced Flow, designed to let Android users install apps from unverified developers more safely than before. This process is known as sideloading. It means installing an app on your device from somewhere other than the Google Play store, usually by...

That “job brief” on Google Forms could infect your device

We've identified a campaign using business-related lures, such as job interviews, project briefs, and financial document, to distribute malware, including the PureHVNC Remote Access Trojan RAT. It's not the malware that's new, but how the attack starts. Instead of the usual phishing email or fake...

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...

Watch out for tax-season robocalls pushing fake “relief programs”

While Americans are sorting through paperwork to get their taxes filed in time, scammers are working overtime to grab a piece of the action. As tax season ramps up, so does scam activity. Our telemetry shows a spike in robocalls impersonating tax resolution firms, tax relief agencies, and vaguely...

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...

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...

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...

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...

OpenClaw: What is it and can you use it safely?

An AI tool with a funny name has caused quite a commotion as of late—including some allegations of machine consciousness—so here is a breakdown on OpenClaw. Launched in November 2025, OpenClaw is an open-source, autonomous artificial intelligence AI agent that was made to run locally on your own...

Fake Huorong security site infects users with ValleyRAT

A convincing lookalike of the popular Huorong Security antivirus has been used to deliver ValleyRAT, a sophisticated Remote Access Trojan RAT built on the Winos4.0 framework, to users who believed they were improving their security. The campaign, attributed to the Silver Fox APT group—a...

Meta patents AI that could keep you posting from beyond the grave

Tech bros have been wanting to become immortal for years. Until they get there, their fallback might be continuing to post nonsense on social media from the afterlife. On December 30, 2025, Meta was granted US patent 12513102B2: Simulation of a user of a social networking system using a language...

Fake shops target Winter Olympics 2026 fans

If you've seen the two stoat siblings serving as official mascots of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, you already know Tina and Milo are irresistible. Designed by Italian schoolchildren and chosen from more than 1,600 entries in a public poll, the duo has already captured hearts worldwide...

How Manifest v3 forced us to rethink Browser Guard, and why that’s a good thing

As a Browser Guard user, you might not have noticed much difference lately. Browser Guard still blocks scams and phishing attempts just like always, and, in many cases, even better. But behind the scenes, almost everything changed. The rules that govern how browser extensions work went through a...

Clawdbot’s rename to Moltbot sparks impersonation campaign

After the viral AI assistant Clawdbot was forced to rename to Moltbot due to a trademark dispute, opportunists moved quickly. Within days, typosquat domains and a cloned GitHub repository appeared—impersonating the project’s creator and positioning infrastructure for a potential supply-chain...

TikTok narrowly avoids a US ban by spinning up a new American joint venture

TikTok may have found a way to stay online in the US. The company announced late last week that it has set up a joint venture backed largely by US investors. TikTok announced T ikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC on Friday in a deal valued at about $14 billion , allowing it to continue operating in the...

One privacy change I made for 2026 (Lock and Code S07E02)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … When you hear the words "data privacy," what do you first imagine? Maybe you picture going into your social media apps and setting your profile and posts to private. Maybe you think about who you've shared your location with and deciding to revoke some of...

Malicious Google Calendar invites could expose private data

Researchers found a way to weaponize calendar invites. They uncovered a vulnerability that allowed them to bypass Google Calendar’s privacy controls using a dormant payload hidden inside an otherwise standard calendar invite. Image courtesy of Miggo An attacker creates a Google Calendar event and...

Dutch police sell fake tickets to show how easily scams work

If you can’t beat them, copy them. That seems to be the thinking behind an unusual campaign by the Dutch police, who set up a fake ticket website selling tickets that don’t exist. The website, TicketBewust.nl, invites people to order tickets for events like football matches and concerns. But the...

How real software downloads can hide remote backdoors

It starts with a simple search. You need to set up remote access to a colleague’s computer. You do a Google search for “RustDesk download,” click one of the top results, and land on a polished website with documentation, downloads, and familiar branding. You install the software, launch it, and...

Why iPhone users should update and restart their devices now

If you were still questioning whether iOS 26+ is for you, now is the time to make that call. Why? On December 12, 2025, Apple patched two WebKit zero‑day vulnerabilities linked to mercenary spyware and is now effectively pushing iPhone 11 and newer users toward iOS 26+, because that’s where the...

A week in security (December 22 – December 28)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Pornhub tells users to expect sextortion emails after data exposure Hacktivists claim near-total Spotify music scrape Stay safe! We don 't just report on threats—we help safeguard your entire digital identity Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headlin...

Hacktivists claim near-total Spotify music scrape

Hacktivist group Anna’s Archive claims to have scraped almost all of Spotify’s catalog and is now seeding it via BitTorrent, effectively turning a streaming platform into a roughly 300 TB pirate “preservation archive.” On its blog, the group states: “A while ago, we discovered a way to scrape...

SoundCloud, Pornhub, and 700Credit all reported data breaches, but the similarities end there

Comparing data breaches is like comparing apples and oranges. They differ on many levels. To news media, the size of the brand, how many users were impacted, and how it was done often dominate the headlines. For victims, what really matters is the type of information stolen. And for the...

Google is discontinuing its dark web report: why it matters

Google has announced that early next year they are discontinuing the dark web report, which was meant to monitor breach data that’s circulating on the dark web. The news raised some eyebrows, but Google says it’s ending the feature because feedback showed the reports didn’t provide “helpful next...

How private is your VPN?

When you're shopping around for a Virtual Private Network VPN you'll find yourself in a sea of promises like "military-grade encryption!" and "total anonymity!" You can’t scroll two inches without someone waving around these fancy terms. But not all VPNs can be trusted. Some VPNs genuinely protec...

Malwarebytes for Mac now has smarter, deeper scans

Say hello to the upgraded Malwarebytes for Mac —now with more robust protection, more control, and the same trusted defense you count on every day. We’ve given our Mac scan engine a serious intelligence boost, so it thinks faster and digs deeper. The new enhanced scan searches across more of your...

[Updated] Another Chrome zero-day under attack: update now

Google issued an extra patch for a security vulnerability in Chrome that is being actively exploited, and it's urging users to update. The patch fixes three flaws in Chrome, and for one of them Google says an exploit already exists in the wild. Chrome is by far the world’s most popular browser,...

A week in security (November 24 – November 30)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: How CVSS v4.0 works: characterizing and scoring vulnerabilities Millions at risk after nationwide CodeRED alert system outage and data breach Holiday shoppers targeted as Amazon and FBI warn of surge in account takeover attacks Fake LinkedIn jobs trick Mac users in...

The hidden costs of illegal streaming and modded Amazon Fire TV Sticks

Ahead of the holiday season, people who have bought cheap Amazon Fire TV Sticks or similar devices online should be aware that some of them could let cybercriminals access personal data, bank accounts, and even steal money. BeStreamWise, a UK initiative established to counter illegal streaming,...

Matrix Push C2 abuses browser notifications to deliver phishing and malware

Cybercriminals are using browser push notifications to deliver malware and phishing attacks. Researchers at BlackFog described how a new command-and-control platform, called Matrix Push C2, uses browser push notifications to reach potential victims. When we warned back in 2019 that browser push...