Adblocker promises to blocks ads, injects them instead

Researchers at Imperva uncovered a new ad injection campaign based on an adblocker named AllBlock. The AllBlock extension was available at the time of writing for Chrome and Opera in the respective web stores. While disguising your adware as an adblocker may seem counterintuitive, it is actually ...

Inside Apple: How Apple’s attitude impacts security

Last week saw the fourth occurrence of the Objective by the Sea OBTS security conference, which is the only security conference to focus exclusively on Apples ecosystem. As such, it draws many of the top minds in the field. This year, those minds, having been starved of a good security conference...

“Free Steam game” scams on TikTok are Among Us

TikTok has long since evolved beyond being thought of as "just" dance clips, also becoming a home for educational and informative content presented in a fun and casual way. There are accounts themed around pretty much any interest you can think of, and one of the biggest is gaming. Its not all...

Patch now! Microsoft fixes 71 Windows vulnerabilities in October Patch Tuesday

Yesterday we told you about Apple’s latest patches. Today we turn to Microsoft and its Patch Tuesday. Microsoft tends to provide a lot of information around its patches and, so, theres a lot to digest and piece together to give you an overview of the most important ones. In total, Microsoft has...

Ransom Disclosure Act would mandate ransomware payment reporting

In an effort to better understand and clamp down on the ransomware economy and its related use of cryptocurrencies, US Senator and past presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren and US House Representative Deborah Ross introduced a new bill last week that would require companies and organizations to...

Update now! Apple patches another privilege escalation bug in iOS and iPadOS

Apple has released a security update for iOS and iPad that addresses a critical vulnerability reportedly being exploited in the wild. The update has been made available for iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro all models, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iP...

ExpressVPN made a choice, and so did I: Lock and Code S02E19

On September 14, the US Department of Justice announced that it had resolved an earlier investigation into an international cyber hacking campaign coming from the United Arab Emirates that has reportedly impacted hundreds of journalists, activists, and human rights defenders in Yemen, Iran, Turke...

The joy of phishing your employees

Many companies set up phishing test programs for their employees, often as part of a compliance requirement involving ongoing employee education on security topics. The aim of these programs is to train employees on how to spot a malicious link, not click it, and forward it on to the appropriate...

Inside Apple: How macOS attacks are evolving

The start of fall 2021 saw the fourth Objective by the Sea OBTS security conference, which is the only security conference to focus exclusively on Apples ecosystem. As such, it draws many of the top minds in the field. This year, those minds, having been starved of a good security conference for ...

Google warns some users that FancyBear’s been prowling around

APT28, also known as FancyBear, is at the heart of another targeted campaign. This time, it’s sniffing around users of Google services. Some 14,000 people have been notified about a spear phish attempt looking to compromise accounts and access their files. When did this happen? Sometime late...

A week in security (Oct 4 – Oct 10)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Does Cybersecurity Awareness Month actually improve security? Police take a piece out of a ransomware gang, but won’t say which one Neiman Marcus data breach affects millions Windows 11 is out. Is it any good for security? Criminals were inside Syniverse for 5 years...

Firefox reveals sponsored ad “suggestions” in search and address bar

Mozilla is trying a novel experiment into striking a balance between ad revenue generation and privacy protection by implementing a new way to deliver ads in its Firefox web browser—presenting them as “suggestions” whenever users type into the dual-use search and URL address bar. The advertising...

At long last, Microsoft is disabling Excel 4.0 macros by default

Sometimes good news in the security world comes unexpectedly. This is one of those times. After three decades of macro viruses, and three decades of trying to convince every single Excel user individually to disable macros, Microsoft is going disable Excel 4.0 macros for everyone. Better late tha...

Making better cybersecurity training: Q&A with Malwarebytes expert Kelsey Prichard

If you hadn’t noticed by now, we are in the first week of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which, according to the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency in the United States, means that we should all consider how people, organizations, and businesses can “be cyber smart” this ye...

Discord scammers lure victims with promise of free Nitro subscriptions

A number of bogus offers are doing the rounds in Discord land at the moment. Discord, a group text chat/VoiP app of choice for many gaming communities, is having a bit of trouble with phishing links. You may recall we’ve covered a lot of Discord scams previously. Service users can create bots,...

GnuPG fixes a problem with Let’s Encrypt certificate chain validation

Despite advance warnings that a root certificate provided by Let’s Encrypt would expire on September 30, users reported issues with a variety of services and websites once that deadline hit. So what happened? The problem A number of high profile tech and security companies noticed their products...

US Navy ship Facebook page hijacked to stream video games

The official Facebook page of the US Navy’s destroyer-class warship, USS Kidd, has been hijacked. According to Task & Purpose, who first reported on the incident, the account has done nothing but stream Age of Empires, an award-winning, history-based real-time strategy RTS video game wherein...

Stop. Do you really need another security tool?

The last few years have seen a mushrooming of the number and type of security tools that organizations can use to protect themselves. You can have tools, tools to integrate the tools, tools to monitor the tools, APIs, dashboards so many dashboards, and machine learning with everything. And yet,...

Google to auto-enrol users, YouTubers into 2SV

Googles announced some changes to how its helping millions of its users stay safe and secure. The biggest of those changes is that it plans to auto-enrol its users in to two-step verification, or 2SV. 2SV adds an extra layer when logging into your account and the additional step happens after you...

What special needs kids need to stay safe online

Online safety is hard enough for most adults. We reuse weak passwords, we click on suspicious links, and we love to share sensitive information that should be kept private and secure. Just go back a few months to watch adults gleefully sharing photos of their vaccine cards. The consequences of...

[Updated, again] Apache fixes zero-day vulnerability in HTTP Server

The Apache HTTP Server 2.4.49 is vulnerable to a flaw that allows attackers to use a path traversal attack to map URLs to files outside the expected document root. If files outside of the document root are not protected by "require all denied" these requests can succeed. This issue is known to be...

Twitch compromised: What we know so far, and what you need to do

Update, 7th October: Twitch has now confirmed the breach. The companys statement is as follows: We have learned that some data was exposed to the internet due to an error in a Twitch server configuration change that was subsequently accessed by a malicious third party. At this time, we have no...

Facebook shoots own foot, hits Instagram and WhatsApp too

Mark Zuckerberg was left counting the personal cost of bad PR yesterday about $6 billion, according to Bloomberg on a day when his company couldnt get out of the news headlines, for all the wrong reasons. The billionaire Facebook CEOs bad day at the office started with whistleblower Frances Hauge...

Criminals were inside Syniverse for 5 years before anyone noticed

"A global privacy disaster", "espionage gold", and "a state-sponsored wet dream" are just some of the comments one can read regarding the breach at Syniverse, a key player in the tech/telecommunications industry that calls itself the "center of the connected world." In a filing with the US Securi...

Windows 11 is out. Is it any good for security?

Windows 11, the latest operating system OS from Microsoft, launches today, and organizations have begun asking themselves when and if they should upgrade from Windows 10 or older versions. The requirements and considerations of each organization will be different, and many things will inform the...

Neiman Marcus data breach affects millions

Millions of Neiman Marcus customers have had their personal and financial information exposed in a data breach. In a press release the company confirmed unauthorized access to customer online accounts. According to the press release 4.6 million customers of Neiman Marcus Group stores, specificall...

Police take a piece out of a ransomware gang, but won’t say which one

One of the worlds ransomware groups appears to be a couple of members short today—and about two million dollars less rich—but nobody is sure which one. Police are staying tight-lipped about whos short-handed following the arrest of two individuals in Kyiv, Ukraine. The arrests are part of a joint...

Does Cybersecurity Awareness Month actually improve security?

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, formerly known as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The idea is to raise awareness about cybersecurity, and provide resources for people to feel safer and more secure online. The month is a collaboration between the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure...

A week in security (Sept 27 – Oct 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Teaching cybersecurity skills to special needs children with Alana Robinson: Lock and Code S02E18 Phone screenshots accidentally leaked online by stalkerware-type company FoggyWeb, analysis of a Nobelium backdoor Instagram Kids put on hold Microsoft, CISA and NSA...

The FCC moves to curb SIM swap attacks

The Federal Communications Commission FCC is going to set new rules to curb the rising threat of SIM swapping, also known as SIMjacking. SIM swapping and the very similar port-out fraud is the unlawful use of someones personal information to steal their phone number and swap or transfer it to...

Apple Pay vulnerable to wireless pickpockets

Researchers have shown that it is possible for attackers to bypass an Apple iPhones lock screen to access payment services and make contactless transactions. The issue, which only applies to Apple Pay and Visa, is caused by the use of so-called magic bytes, a unique code used to unlock Apple Pay...

Android Trojan GriftHorse, the gift horse you definitely should look in the mouth

Researchers at Zimperium have discovered an aggressive mobile premium services campaign with over 10 million victims all over the world. The stolen amount could amass hundreds of millions of Euros. The scam was hidden behind malicious Android apps, and the researchers have named the Trojan...

Telegram-powered bots circumvent 2FA

Two-factor authentication is a great way to protect your online accounts, and we always recommend you turn it on. But where users put up walls, you can be sure there are cybercriminals trying to break them down. Yesterday, security intelligence firm, Intel 147, revealed it had noticed an uptick o...

Vaccine passport app leaks users’ personal data

Security and privacy advocates may have cause to worry after all: Portpass, a vaccine passport app in Canada, has been found to have been exposing the personal data of its users for an unknown length of time. On Monday, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC received a tip that "the user profiles ...

Microsoft, CISA and NSA offer security tools and advice, but will you take it?

Microsoft offers to help you with patching Exchange servers, CISA offers an insider threat tool, and together with the NSA they offer advice on how to choose and harden your VPN. These initiatives from major parties aim to help organizations assess and manage their security needs. But will they...

Instagram Kids put on hold

Instagram has announced it is pausing the development of its newest brainchild, Instagram Kids—a version of Instagram aimed at 10-12-year-olds, or "tweens". Adam Mosseri, who heads up Instagram, wrote in a blog post about the idea behind Instagram Kids: "We started this project to address an...

FoggyWeb, analysis of a Nobelium backdoor

Microsofts Threat Intelligence Center has been analyzing a custom-built backdoor that has been used by the Nobelium group since April 2021. Nobelium is the name given to the threat actor behind the attacks against SolarWinds, the Sunburst backdoor, TEARDROP malware, GoldMax malware, and other...

Phone screenshots accidentally leaked online by stalkerware-type company

pcTattleTale hasnt been very careful about securing the screenshots it sneakily takes from its victims phones. pcTattleTale markets itself as "employee and child monitoring software" that is undetectable by the device user, but it can also be used to spy on spouses and partners. It allows its...

A week in security (Sept 20 – Sept 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs Freedom Hosting operator gets 27 years for hosting dark web abuse sites Microsoft makes a bold move towards a password-less future New Mac malware masquerades as iTerm2, remote desktop and other apps Internet safety tips for kids and teens: a comprehensive guide for...

Teaching cybersecurity skills to special needs children with Alana Robinson: Lock and Code S02E18

School is fully back in session for kids all across the world, and for many students, that means logging back online to learn, do homework, submit assignments, and maybe even continue some distance learning, depending on their schools pandemic precautions. But with more Internet activity comes...

Malwarebytes research shows an unequal, unsafe Internet

If the Internet was as safe and as private as it is essential for everyday life—increasingly required for job applications, bank transfers, doctor’s appointments, and filing taxes—then we’d likely have fewer online scams, better privacy protections, smaller data breaches, and a lower overall risk...

Uber security alert scam spoofs real Uber number—Watch out!

This morning Malwarebytes Labs received a scam masquerading as a security alert from Uber. The alert was pretty convincing and used the kind of language were used to seeing in genuine security emails and SMS messages. It read: Your Uber account was recently logged into from iPhone in London. If...

SonicWall warns users to patch critical vulnerability “as soon as possible”

SonicWall has issued a security notice about its SMA 100 series of appliances. The vulnerability could potentially allow a remote unauthenticated attacker the ability to delete arbitrary files from a SMA 100 series appliance and gain administrator access to the device. SonicWall SonicWall is a...

Parents and teachers believe digital surveillance of kids outweighs risks

Schools in the US have been using surveillance software to keep an eye on their students, and such software has grown significantly in popularity since the COVD-19 pandemic closed campuses nationwide. And this is fine—at least according to new research released by the Center for Democracy &...

Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover flaw reveals users’ passwords

Researchers have been able to get hold of 372,072 Windows domain credentials, including 96,671 unique credentials, in slightly over 4 months by setting up a Microsoft Exchange server and using Autodiscover domains. The credentials that are being leaked are valid Windows domain credentials used to...

How to clear your cache

The term “cache” refers to a storage container. If you’re familiar with the outdoor recreational activity geocaching, you may be familiar with the term outside of computing. But in website and computer terms, a cache is temporary storage that is used to speed up future requests and load things mo...

Italian mafia cybercrime sting leads to 100+ arrests

The Spanish National Police Policía Nacional has successfully dismantled an organized crime ring of hundreds of members in a sting operation supported by Europol, the Italian National Police Polizia di Stato, and Eurojust. This is the end result of a year-long investigation. The organized crime...

MSHTML attack targets Russian state rocket centre and interior ministry

Malwarebytes has reason to believe that the MSHTML vulnerability listed under CVE-2021-40444 is being used to target Russian entities. The Malwarebytes Intelligence team has intercepted email attachments that are specifically targeting Russian organizations. The first template we found is designe...

Patch now! Insecure Hikvision security cameras can be taken over remotely

In a detailed post on Github, security researcher WatchfulIP describes how he found that the majority of the recent camera product ranges of Hikvision cameras are susceptible to a critical, unauthenticated, remote code execution RCE vulnerability, even with the latest firmware. Hikvision Hangzhou...

Patch vCenter Server “right now”, VMWare expects CVE-2021-22005 exploitation within minutes of disclosure

VMware is urging users of vCenter server to patch no fewer than 19 problems affecting its products. These updates fix a variety of security vulnerabilities, but and one of them is particularly nasty. That would be CVE-2021-22005, a critical file upload vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.8 out o...