Drug cartel hacked cameras and phones to spy on FBI and identify witnesses

The "El Chapo" Mexican drug cartel snooped on FBI personnel through hacked cameras, and listened in on their phone calls to identify and kill potential witnesses, the US Department of Justice has said. And seven years on, the Bureau's defenses against this kind of surveillance are still inadequat...

Corpse-eating selfies, and other ways to trick scammers (Lock and Code S06E14)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … There’s a unique counter response to romance scammers. Her name is Becky Holmes. Holmes, an expert and author on romance scams, has spent years responding to nearly every romance scammer who lands a message in her inbox. She told one scammer pretending to ...

Why the Do Not Call Registry doesn’t work

The “Do Not Call Registry” receives a lot of hate online for failing to do its job: Stop calls. “What’s the point of being on the Do Not Call list?” wrote one user on Reddit who shared a screenshot of ten declined phone calls received across one week. Though already registered with the Do Not Cal...

Mattel’s going to make AI-powered toys, kids’ rights advocates are worried

Toy company Mattel has announced a deal with OpenAI to create AI-powered toys, but digital rights advocates have urged caution. In a press release last week, the owner of the Barbie brand signed a "strategic collaboration" with the AI company, which owns ChatGPT. "By using OpenAI's technology,...

How Los Angeles banned smartphones in schools (Lock and Code S06E10)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … There's a problem in class today, and the second largest school district in the United States is trying to solve it. After looking at the growing body of research that has associated increased smartphone and social media usage with increased levels of...

Text scams grow to steal hundreds of millions of dollars

Text scams alone cost US citizens at least $470 million in 2024, according to new data from the US Federal Trade Commission FTC. Because many scams go unreported, though, this dollar amount might be considerably more. The FTC illustrated this with a graph comparing the reported losses to the numb...

Man accused of using keylogger to spy on colleagues, log in to their personal accounts and watch them at home

When you next type something sensitive on your computer keyboard, be sure that no-one else is watching. A recent case of alleged cyber-voyeurism shows how important it is to secure your computer against unwanted eavesdroppers using malwareware. In a class action lawsuit, six women have accused...

Toll fee scams are back and heading your way

Back in August 2024, we warned about a relatively new type of SMS phishing or smishing scam that was doing the rounds. Now a new wave of toll fee scams are working their way round the US. These attempts come as an unexpected text message linking to a website pretending to belong to one of the US...

Targeted spyware and why it’s a concern to us

Experts are again warning about the proliferating market for targeted spyware and espionage. Before we dive into the world of targeted spyware, it's worth looking at a few of the main players that are active in and against this industry. Paragon Solutions is an Israeli company which sells high-en...

1 in 10 people do nothing to stay secure and private on vacation

This year, Spring Break vacationers are packing more than their flip-flops, bucket hats, and sunglasses—they’re also packing a few cybersecurity anxieties for the trip. According to new research from Malwarebytes, 52% of people said they “worry about being scammed while traveling,” while another...

X users report login troubles as Dark Storm claims cyberattack

In the early morning hours of March 10, thousands of users on X formerly Twitter began having trouble logging into the platform. It was only the first service blip of at least three to come that same day and, if one cybercriminal group is to be believed, it was all on purpose. “Twitter has been...

Ransomware threat mailed in letters to business owners

Business owners and CEOs across the United States received customized ransomware threats this month from the most unusual of places—letters in the mail. The letters, which were first reported by multiple cybersecurity researchers, claim to come from a ransomware group called BianLian. But since...

I spoke to a task scammer. Here’s how it went

Tasks scam are surging, with a year over year increase of 400%. So I guess it should have been no surprise when I was contacted by a task scammer on X recently. Task scammers prey on people looking for remote jobs by offering them simple repetitive tasks such as liking videos, optimizing apps,...

A week in security (February 17 – February 23)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Healthcare security lapses keep piling up SecTopRAT bundled in Chrome installer distributed via Google Ads Google Docs used by infostealer ACRStealer as part of attack DeepSeek found to be sharing user data with TikTok parent company ByteDance Malwarebytes introduc...

Hard drives containing sensitive medical data found in flea market

Somebody bought a batch of 15 GB hard drives from a flea market, and during a routine check of the contents they found medical data about hundreds of patients. After some more investigation in the Netherlands, it turned out the data came from a software provider in the medical industry which had...

Phishing evolves beyond email to become latest Android app threat

There are plenty of phish in the sea, and the latest ones have little interest in your email inbox. In 2024, Malwarebytes detected more than 22,800 phishing apps on Android, according to the recent 2025 State of Malware report. Of those malicious apps, 5,200 could subvert one of the strongest...

A week in security (January 27 – February 2)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: ClickFix vs. traditional download in new DarkGate campaign Cybercrime gets a few punches on the nose Microsoft advertisers phished via malicious Google ads The DeepSeek controversy: Authorities ask where does the data come from and how safe is it? These are the 10...

ClickFix vs. traditional download in new DarkGate campaign

During the past several months there have been numerous malware campaigns that use a technique something referred to as "ClickFix". It often consists of a fake CAPTCHA or similar traffic validation page where visitors are instructed to paste and execute code in order to proceed. We have started t...

Three privacy rules for 2025 (Lock and Code S06E02)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… It’s Data Privacy Week right now, and that means, for the most part, that you’re going to see a lot of well-intentioned but clumsy information online about how to protect your data privacy. You’ll see articles about iPhone settings. You’ll hear acronyms for...

A week in security (January 13 – January 19)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: iMessage text gets recipient to disable phishing protection so they can be phished The new rules for AI and encrypted messaging, with Mallory Knodel Lock and Code S06E01 Insurance company accused of using secret software to illegally collect and sell location data ...

The new rules for AI and encrypted messaging, with Mallory Knodel (Lock and Code S06E01)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … The era of artificial intelligence everything is here, and with it, come everyday surprises into exactly where the next AI tools might pop up. There are major corporations pushing customer support functions onto AI chatbots, Big Tech platforms offering AI...

iMessage text gets recipient to disable phishing protection so they can be phished

A smishing SMS phishing campaign is targeting iMessage users, attempting to socially engineer them into bypassing Apple's built in phishing protection. For months, iMessage users have been posting examples online of how phishers are trying to get around this protection. And, now, the campign is...

AI-supported spear phishing fools more than 50% of targets

One of the first things everyone predicted when artificial intelligence AI became more commonplace was that it would assist cybercriminals in making their phishing campaigns more effective. Now, researchers have conducted a scientific study into the effectiveness of AI supported spear phishing, a...

Pallet liquidation scams and how to recognize them

Pallet liquidation scams target people looking to purchase pallets of supposedly discounted merchandise, often from major retailers like Amazon. Groups that engage in pallet liquidation sales are rampant on social media and it’s hard to discern the scammers from the legitimate ones to be honest,...

AI-generated malvertising “white pages” are fooling detection engines

This is no secret, online criminals are leveraging artificial intelligence AI and large language models LLMs in their malicious schemes. While AI tends to be abused to trick people i.e. deepfakes in order to gain something, sometimes, it is meant to defeat computer security programs. With AI, thi...

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Americans urged to use encrypted messaging after large, ongoing cyberattack

A years-long infiltration into the systems of eight telecom giants, including AT&T and Verizon, allowed a state sponsored actor to steal vast amounts of data on where, when and who individuals have been communicating with. Speaking to Reuters, a senior US official said the attack telecommunicatio...

These cars want to know about your sex life (re-air) (Lock and Code S05E25)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … Two weeks ago, the Lock and Code podcast shared three stories about home products that requested, collected, or exposed sensitive data online. There were the air fryers that asked users to record audio through their smartphones. There was the smart ring...

QuickBooks popup scam still being delivered via Google ads

Accounting software QuickBooks, by Intuit, is a popular target for India-based scammers, only rivaled for top spot by the classic Microsoft tech support scams. We've seen two main lures, both via Google ads: the first one is simply a website promoting online support for QuickBooks and shows a pho...

Warning: Online shopping threats to avoid this Black Friday and Cyber Monday

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Warning: Hackers could take over your email account by stealing cookies, even if you have MFA

The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has issued a warning that cybercriminals are taking over email accounts via stolen session cookies, allowing them to bypass the multi-factor authentication MFA a user has set up. Here's how it works. Most of us don’t think twice about checking the “Remember...

Large scale Google Ads campaign targets utility software

After what seemed like a long hiatus, we've observed threat actors returning to malvertising to drop malware disguised as software downloads. The campaign we identified is high-impact, going after utility software such as Slack, Notion, Calendly, Odoo, Basecamp, and others. For this blog, we...

Fake Disney+ activation page redirects to pornographic scam

A common way to activate digital subscriptions such as Netflix, Prime or Disney+ on a new TV is to visit a website and enter the code seen on your screen. It's much easier than having to authenticate using a remote and typing a username and password. Scammers are creating fake activation pages th...

Privacy watchdog files complaint over Firefox quietly enabling its Privacy Preserving Attribution

A European privacy watchdog has filed a complaint against Mozilla for quietly enabling Privacy Preserving Attribution PPA in its Firefox browser. Noyb none of your business argues that despite its reassuring name, the feature allows the browser to track your online behavior. By design, Privacy...

23andMe to pay $30 million in settlement over 2023 data breach

Genetic testing company 23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit over a 2023 data breach which ended in some customers having information like names, birth years, and ancestry information exposed. In October 2023, we reported on how information belonging to as many as seven...

PartnerLeak scam site promises victims full access to “cheating” partner’s stolen data

Earlier this week, we reported on a new type of scam that tells you your partner is cheating on you. However, we hit a dead end because we were unable to get hold of an original copy of the email. That was until the scammers were “kind enough” to send one to one of our co-workers. your partner is...

My child had her data stolen—here’s how to protect your kids from identity theft

Recently, I received a letter in the mail from a company about a data breach. The letter said that the company had been a victim of a cyberattack back in March in which files were scrambled what we know as ransomware. The attacker had also accessed sensitive files and customer health data. Sadly,...

We’re making it easier for you to protect your identity

Things have changed in cybersecurity. Gone are the days when our only worry was downloading a virus. Now, 71% of people say having their data leaked and identity stolen is one of their biggest fears about being online. Sadly, they’re right to be concerned: Fraud losses hit $10 billion in 2023 up...

Malwarebytes awarded Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval

We’re delighted to say Malwarebytes has been awarded the Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval for product excellence. The Seal of Approval is given to products that have earned the trust of families, and serves as a quick and reliable indicator of quality and dependability for parents a...

AI girlfriends want to know all about you. So might ChatGPT (Lock and Code S05E17)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… Somewhere out there is a romantic AI chatbot that wants to know everything about you. But in a revealing overlap, other AI tools—which are developed and popularized by far larger companies in technology—could crave the very same thing. For AI tools of any...

Security company ADT announces security breach of customer data

Electronic surveillance equipment provider ADT filed a form 8-K with the Security and Exchange Commision SEC to report “a cybersecurity incident during which unauthorized actors illegally accessed certain databases containing ADT customer order information.” An 8-K is a report of unscheduled...

SIEM is not storage, with Jess Dodson (Lock and Code S05E16)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… In the world of business cybersecurity, the powerful technology known as "Security Information and Event Management" is sometimes thwarted by the most unexpected actors—the very people setting it up. Security Information and Event Management—or SIEM—is a te...

AI device Rabbit r1 logged user interactions without an option to erase them before selling

Rabbit, the manufacturer of the Artificial Intelligence AI assistant r1 has issued a security advisory telling users its found a potential security risk. If a user loses or sells their device, a person in possession of the r1 could potentially jailbreak the device and gain access to files that...

A week in security (July 1 – July 7)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Ticketmaster hackers release stolen ticket barcodes for Taylor Swift Eras Tour Authy phone numbers accessed by cybercriminals, warns Twilio Affirm says Evolve Bank data breach also compromised some of its customers Prudential Financial data breach impacts 2.5 milli...

Tampa General Hospital half thwarts ransomware attack, but still loses patient data

The Tampa General Hospital TGH has promised to reach out to individuals whose information has been stolen by a ransomware group. In a cybersecurity notice, TGH said it noticed unusual activity on its computer systems on May 31, 2023. "Fortunately, TGHs monitoring systems and experienced technolog...

Royal Mail schools LockBit in leaked negotiation

The LockBit group has finally given up any prospect of extracting a ransom from Royal Mail and published the files it stole from the company in a recent ransomware attack. The leak brings weeks of negotiations to a close, leaving Royal Mail without a decryptor, and LockBit without a payday...

BOD 23-01: Improving asset visibility and vulnerability detection on federal networks

On October 3, 2022, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA issued Binding Operational Directive 23-01 BOD 23-10. This directive requires all Federal Civilian Executive Branch FCEB entities to maintain an inventory of all IPv4- and IPv6-networked assets, perform regular, periodi...

Fake Fortnite rewards are stealing players’ accounts

Fortnite scam pages like the ones below appear by the dozen every day, recycled endlessly under different names and designs. One version promises $50 from a fake superhero collaboration. Another claims it can calculate what your locker is worth. Both lead to the same destination: a fake Epic Game...

Hims & Hers sued over alleged health data privacy failures

The US Federal Trade Commission FTC, together with Utah and California, has filed a lawsuit against telehealth provider Hims & Hers. The FTC alleges that the company shared consumers’ sensitive health information with third‑party advertising platforms despite promising strong privacy protections...

WhatsApp Web chats exposed by Adobe’s Acrobat extension flaw

HermeticReader is the name given to a recently disclosed vulnerability in the Adobe Acrobat PDF extension for Chrome, tracked as CVE-2026-48294. Researchers discovered the issue in early June 2026 and reported it to Adobe, which patched the flaw over a single weekend. They found that a single vis...