Xenomorph hunts cryptocurrency logins on Android

Cryptocurrency owners should take heed of warnings related to Xenomorph malware--Bleeping Computer reports that the most recent version of Xenomorph now targets various cryptocurrency wallets using fake browser update messaging as bait. Xenomorph is roughly a year old, first springing to prominen...

Credit card thieves target Booking.com customers

Staff in the hospitality industry are trained to accommodate their guests, and when they have a few years of experience under their belt you can be sure they'll have received some extraordinary requests. Which is something that clever cybercriminals are taking advantage of. Researchers at...

T-Mobile spills billing information to other customers

Some T-Mobile customers logged into their accounts on Wednesday to find another customers billing and account information showing on their online dashboards. T-Mobile denied there was an attack, but confirmed there had been a data leak. It said a "temporary system glitch" had misplaced some...

Malwarebytes wins every Q2 MRG Effitas award & scores 100% on new phishing test

MRG Effitas, a world leader in independent IT research, published their anti-malware efficacy assessment results for Q2 2023. Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection EP achieved the highest possible score 100% and received certifications for Level 1, Exploit, Online Banking, and Ransomware. These result...

Upgrading your iPhone? Read this first

Apple's Wonderlust event on Tuesday saw the launch of the company's top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro Max with a titanium chassis and an improved telephoto camera, as well as other iPhone 15 models and new Apple Watches. Also this week, Apple was reportedly banned from selling the iPhone 12 in France...

3 reasons why your endpoint security is not enough

Despite widespread deployment of endpoint protection solutions, cyberattacks continue to make headlines, affecting organizations of all sizes and sectors. Recent statistics reveal that 70% of companies were impacted by ransomware last year State of Malware Report 2023, Malwarebytes, and 83%...

A week in security (September 4 - September 10)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Supply chain related security risks, and how to protect against them Password-stealing Chrome extension smuggled on to Web Store Smart chastity device exposes sensitive user data X wants your biometric data Mac users targeted in new malvertising campaign delivering...

Qakbot botnet infrastructure suffers major takedown

The Qakbot botnet has suffered a major setback after its infrastructure was heavily disrupted by US and European law enforcement agencies. Operation DuckHunt, as it was codenamed, is possibly the largest US-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure. Not only did the agenci...

Social Security Numbers leaked in ransomware attack on Ohio History Connection

The Ohio History Connection OHC has posted a breach notification in which it discloses that a ransomware attack successfully encrypted internal data servers. During the attack, the cybercriminals may have had access to names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers SSNs of current and former OHC...

"An influx of Elons," a hospital visit, and magic men: Becky Holmes shares more romance scams: Lock and Code S04E18

Becky Holmes is a big deal online. Hugh Jackman has invited her to dinner. Prince William has told her she has "such a beautiful name." Once, Ricky Gervais simply needed her photos "I want you to take a snap of yourself and then send it to me on here...Send it to me on here!" he messaged on...

The end looms for Meta's behavioural advertising in Europe

The EU is going toe to toe with Meta once more, with the social network giant conceding defeat yet again. After having taken Meta to task for various privacy violations and data breaches, Meta is now having to provide European users with a way to opt out of behavioural advertising. The threat of...

Hey, are you REALLY ready to go on vacation? (No, you aren't)

Are you ready for a challenge? A real challenge? Do you laugh in the face of shark cages, scoff at the Marathon des Sables, and waft a dismissive finger in the direction of the Everest ascent? Are you ready to conquer the impossible? If so, then you might be ready for the ultimate challenge--taki...

60,000 Androids have stalkerware-type app Spyhide installed

Stalkerware-type app Spyhide is coded so badly that its possible to gain access to the back-end databases and retrieve data about everyone that has the app on their device. And it's not a small number. Hacktivist maia arson crimew told TechCrunch she'd found 60,000 compromised Android devices,...

How to secure your business before going on vacation

For many, the summer months should be a time of peace: Maybe taking some vacation, maybe strolling across warm, soft sands as sapphire waves lap up against your feet, maybe even spending time with family that you like. But for determined cybercriminals, these periods of near-universal rest and...

Self-driving cars are a privacy issue, says security expert

Self-driving cars peel off an extra layer from our privacy, says security expert Bruce Schneier. Theoretically, if you know the location of all the closed-circuit television CCTV cameras in a neighborhood, you might be able to move around without one of them ever catching a glimpse of your face...

Fake reviewers face big fines

The FTC is cracking down on fake reviews. Under the new proposed rules, organisations involved in the buying, selling, and manipulation of reviews could be very much out of pocket. Every time a consumer sees a fake review, it will carry a fine of "up to $50,000" per viewing. From the FTC release:...

Public and free WiFi: Can I safely use it?

We've got into the habit of expecting internet access wherever we go. But data costs can be expensive, and out of your own home often the only WiFi available is public, passwordless and free. In security, we've been trained to carefully contemplate anything that's free, because, well, often when...

Microsoft illegally collected and retained children's data, says FTC

Microsoft is counting the cost of privacy violations, with $20m in fines related to illegal data collection from childrens Xbox accounts. The Xbox manufacturer has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commision FTC, a result which promises to have other console developers looking closely a...

Why we should be more open about ransomware attacks

The UKs National Cyber Security Centre NCSC has published an article that reflects on why its so concerning when cyberattacks go unreported, saying: ...we are increasingly concerned about what happens behind the scenes of the attacks we dont hear about, particularly the ransomware ones. One of th...

Google Authenticator WILL get end-to-end encryption. Eventually.

Following criticism, Google has decided to bring end-to-end encryption E2EE to its Google Authenticator cloud backups. The search giant recently introduced a feature that allows users back up two-factor authentication 2FA tokens to the cloud, but the lack of encryption caused some commentators to...

Ransomware in Germany, April 2022 – March 2023

This article is based on research by Marcelo Rivero, Malwarebytes' ransomware specialist, who monitors information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web sites. In this report, "known attacks" are attacks where the victim opted not to pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture ...

Beware: Fake IRS tax email wants your Microsoft account

Last week, the IRS reminded taxpayers that Tax Day, April 18, is Tuesday this week. However, in some states like Alabama, California, and New York, the federal office extended the filing deadlines due to natural disasters. This is an excellent reason for scammers to keep launching tax scam...

Play ransomware gang leaks City of Oakland data

The Play ransomware gang has begun partially publishing data they stole from the City of Oakland, California. The data were in multiple archive files with a collective file size of 10GB. According to the ransomware gang, the files contain "private and personal information data, financial...

LastPass was undone by an attack on a remote employee

Last August, LastPass suffered a well publicised breach: Developer systems were compromised and source code stolen. This resulted in a second breach in November, which was revealed by LastPass in December. The company has now revealed that the individuals responsible for the attack also compromis...

BlackCat ransomware targets another healthcare facility

In a statement issued Monday morning, Lehigh Valley Health Network said it had been the target of a cyberattack attributed to a ransomware gang known as BlackCat. The Network is made up of 13 hospital campuses, as well as other health facilities, and is based in Pennsylvania. BlackCat The...

Twitter and two-factor authentication: What's changing?

Twitter is making some dramatic shake ups to its currently available security settings. From March 19, users of Twitter wont be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication 2FA unless they have a subscription to the paid Twitter Blue service. If you use text-based 2FA, the important thing here...

Four EU telco giants will start asking users if they want personalized targeted ads

They say you can't have too much of a good thing. Unfortunately, this applies to ads, too, whether you think they're a good thing or not. Soon, Europes four biggest telecommunication companies--Germany's Deutsche Telekom DK, France's Orange, Spain's Telefonica, and the UK's Vodafone Group--will...

What happened in privacy in 2022

Annual reviews of any years developments in privacy rarely lend themselves to pithy wrap-ups, but 2022 was different, providing the clearest example yet for so many people--American women in particular--that their privacy was not theirs to determine, and that the often-repeated refrain that priva...

Microsoft to end direct sale of Windows 10 licenses at the end of January

Windows 10 is slowly coming to an end, with one more way to purchase the operating system riding off into the sunset. Microsoft is posting notices in a variety of locations to confirm it will no longer sell Windows 10 licenses directly. Support remains in place for the time being, as is the usual...

Louisiana wants your ID if you're looking at adult-only websites

The state of Louisiana introduced a law on January 1, 2023, that holds sites that specialize in pornographic content accountable if they do not check their visitors' ages. A website is obliged to check whether a visitor is of the legal age required to access pornographic content if a substantial...

LastPass updates security notice with information about a recent incident

The password management company LastPasss notified customers in late December about a recent security incident. The notice was posted as an update of the security incident previously reported in August of 2022, which also was updated and covered on November 30, 2022. According to LastPass, an...

iPhone user watches as stolen phone travels from UK to China

Have you ever wondered what happens to your phone if its stolen while on vacation or a business trip? The answer may surprise you, as it did one Mastodon user who graciously shared a tale of a smartphone gaining some serious air miles. Our intrepid business traveller was in London when their phon...

Looking for student debt relief? Watch out for scammers says the FBI

The FBI believes that scammers may be after people applying for the One-Time Federal Student Loan Debt Relief, a program announced by the Biden-Harris Administration in August 2022 that provides up to $20,000 in student loan debt relief. In a recent public service announcement, the agency warned ...

Teen talk: What it's like to grow up online, and the role of parents: Lock and Code S03E21

Growing up is different for teens today. Issues with identity, self-expression, bullying, fitting in, and trusting your friends and family--while all those certainly existed decades ago, they were never magnified in quite the same way that they are today, and that's largely because of one enormou...

Facebook users sue Meta for allegedly building "secret workaround" to Apple privacy safeguards

Last week, two Facebook users filed a class-action complaint against Meta in San Francisco's federal court, alleging the company built a "secret workaround" to Apple's safeguards that protect iPhone users from tracking. Facebook circumvents Apple's privacy rules by opening in-app browsers within...

Steam account credentials phished in browser-in-a-browser attack

Steam users are once again under threat from a particularly sneaky tactic used to steal account details. As with so many Steam attacks currently, it accommodates for the possibility of users relying on Steam Guard Mobile Authentication for additional protection. It also makes use of a recent...

6 patch management best practices for businesses

Patching is a thorn in the side of many businesses today: Everything from keeping up with the volume of patches to prioritizing what needs to be patched first can cause major delays in a business's patching process. Needless to say, businesses are looking to streamline their patch management...

Chromium browsers can write to the system clipboard without your permission

If you are a user of Google Chrome or any other Chromium-based web browser, then websites may push anything they want to the operating system's clipboard without your permission or any user interaction. This means that by simply visiting a website, the data on your clipboard may be overwritten...

Source code of password manager LastPass stolen by attacker

In a security incident notice from LastPass the company informed the public know that an unauthorized party gained access to portions of the LastPass development environment through a single compromised developer account. There is no evidence that this incident involved any access to customer dat...

Google flags man as sex abuser after he sends photos of child to doctor

Mark noticed something was wrong with his son. His penis was hurting and appeared to be swollen. Since it was a Saturday during the pandemic, an emergency consultation was scheduled by video. So the doctor could assess the problem ahead of time, the parents were advised to send photos of their...

Criminals using compromised social media accounts to "post indecent images of children" says UK cybercrime organization

Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting center for fraud and cybercrime, is warning of a very disturbing scam involving social media and "indecent images of children." Details are light, but social media fans should take this as a warning to lock down their accounts immediately...

To settle with the DoJ, Uber must confess to a cover-up. And it did.

Uber covered up the 2016 data breach that affected its 57 million customers and drivers. The confession came as part of the settlement between the DOJ US Department of Justice and the taxi company, which will see it avoid criminal prosecution. In a press release from the DOJ, Uber "admits that it...

Firefox stops advertisers tracking you as you browse, calls itself the most “private and secure major browser”

Cookies are in the news as Mozilla rolls out significant privacy changes for Firefox. The idea is to dramatically lessen the risk of privacy-invading tracking across websites without your knowledge. Tracking cookies have been a hot topic in recent months, as advertisers try switching to other...

How iPhones can run malware even when they’re off

Most people think that turning off their iPhone - or letting the battery die - means that the phone is, well, off. The thing is, this isnt quite true. In reality, most of the phones functionality has ended, but there are components that mindlessly continue a zombie-like existence, for the most pa...

Why you should be taking security advice from your grandmother

We tend to accept that younger folks are supposed to be more tech savvy, given they’ve grown up with computers and the Internet pretty much their whole lives. If you go back about 15 or so years, a lot of security advice focused on the “warning your grandmother away from scams” routine. The defau...

Watch out for this SMS phish promising a tax refund

Imagine logging into your bank’s website after responding to a text message claiming you’re due a refund, only to see a warning to watch out for bogus texts: Beware of SMS phishing! For those who dont read Dutch, the warning reads: Never respond to unusual emails or texts! Fraudsters often send...

Apple’s child safety features are coming to a Messages app near you

Apple will soon be rolling out its promised child safety features in the Messages app for users in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. The announcement comes four months after the features initial launch in the US on the iOS, iPad, and macOS devices. To make communicating with Messages...

Why MITRE matters to SMBs

Running a small- to medium-sized business SMB requires expertise in everything, from marketing and sales to management and hiring, but in the ever-expanding list of executive responsibilities, one particular item demands attention: Cybersecurity. Cyberattacks can—and have—shuttered entire...

Filing your taxes? Be wary of help found through search engines

The deadline for filing your taxes in the US is nearly upon us. April 18 is the very last date that you can afford to hand your tax returns in to the IRS. People will naturally gravitate toward all manner of filing tools to get the job done. But it’s worth noting that sites are lurking in search...

Beware Ukraine-themed fundraising scams

Unfortunately scammers continue to focus on the invasion of Ukraine to make money. A flurry of bogus domains and scam techniques are spreading their wings. They appear to focus on donation fakeouts but there’s a few other nasty surprises lying in wait too. The lowest of the low There are few lowe...