A week in security (January 4 – January 10)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we released survey results about VPN usage and found that 36 percent of our respondents use it. We also talked about Adobe Flash Player reaching its end of life—meaning, Adobe wont be supporting the updating and patching of its Flash Player software; covered the...

“I have full control of your device”: Sextortion scam rears its ugly head in time for 2021

Malwarebytes recently received a report about a fresh spate of Bitcoin sextortion scam campaigns doing the rounds. Bitcoin sextortion scams tend to email you to say theyve videoed you on your webcam performing sexual acts in private, and ask you to pay them amount in Bitcoin to keep the video whi...

Funke Media Group suffers nationwide ransomware attack in Germany

On December 22, Germany’s third largest publisher fell victim to a cyberattack that affected systems in offices all around the country. The Funke Media Group publishes dozens of newspapers, like Berliner Morgenpost, Hamburger Abendblatt, and Bergedorfer Zeitung, as well as magazines, several loca...

Retrohunting APT37: North Korean APT used VBA self decode technique to inject RokRat

This post was authored by Hossein Jazi On December 7 2020 we identified a malicious document uploaded to Virus Total which was purporting to be a meeting request likely used to target the government of South Korea. The meeting date mentioned in the document was 23 Jan 2020, which aligns with the...

Adobe Flash Player reaches end-of-life

“What now? My farm is no longer working. Can you have a look, honey?” Like millions of other people my wife likes to play online browser games. You know, the ones that don’t require a fast connection because your virtual life is not in constant danger, and an occasional harvest is enough to make...

VPN usage is increasing, says December 2020 survey

I won’t reveal my mom’s exact age, but she’s in her late 60s. Other than her phone, my mom doesn’t own or use a computer—but she knows what Zoom is. Not since “Kleenex” has a brand become so pervasive that people use the brand name as a generic term for the product. For my mom, any kind of video...

A week in security (December 28 – January 3)

First off we would like to wish all our readers a happy and secure 2021! Last week on Malwarebytes Labs we presented an overview of developments in the SearchDimension hijackers, we looked at the most enticing cyberattacks of 2020, and we also looked back at the strangest cybersecurity events of...

The strangest cybersecurity events of 2020: a look back

This year is finally coming to an end, and it only took us about eight consecutive months of March to get here. There is a ton to talk about, and that’s without even discussing the literal global pandemic. You see, 2020s news stories were the pressure-cooker product of mania, chaos, and the...

The most enticing cyberattacks of 2020

This is part one of a two-part series. To read about the strangest cybersecurity events of 2020, read our second story here. In 2020, we experienced a major shift. Much of the world pitched in to limit the spread of the coronavirus, with people changing their daily routines to include a mixture o...

SearchDimension search hijackers: An overview of developments

Background information on SearchDimension SearchDimension is the name of a family of browser hijackers that makes money from ad clicks and search engine revenues. The family was named after the domain searchdimension.com that popped up in 2017, and they still sometimes use the letter combo SD in...

A week in security (December 21- December 27)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs we warned our readers about not so festive social media scams, how Emotet returned just in time for Christmas, we tried out some free online games your kids are playing and here’s what happened, and our VideoBytes episode talked about what penetration testing tools...

VideoBytes: Offensive security tools and the bad guys that use them

Hello Folks! In this Videobyte, we’re talking about what penetration testing tools malware gangs love to use and why they are better than what you can get on the black market. This article describes the VirusBulletin talk of a security researcher from Interzer Labs, Paul Litvak, in which he...

I played the free online games your kids are playing and here’s what happened

“Throat kill! Throat kill!” “I need a dad.” These are just some of the things I heard a six-year-old boy shout at his iPad while I was babysitting one evening. I was disturbed, yet compelled to learn more. Babysitting is always a puzzling experience for me. Why are their hands always sticky? Who...

Emotet returns just in time for Christmas

Emotet is a threat we have been tracking very closely throughout the year thanks to its large email distribution campaigns. Once again, and for about two months, the botnet stopped its malspam activity only to return days before Christmas. In typical Emotet fashion, the threat actors continue to...

Beware: not so festive social media scams

We’re now into the most crucial stage of Christmas festivities, where money and gifts are on the march…and social media is a conduit for both good and bad tidings. This is the absolute best time for social media scammers to make their move. A little confidence trick here, the promise of good chee...

A week in security (December 14 – December 20)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs we kept you updated on the SolarWinds attack, we warned about the special dangers that come with the Christmas season, published a threat profile for the Egregor ransomware, warned how a lead generation scam was targeting potential Malwarebytes MSP partners, and...

The many ways you can be scammed on Facebook, part II

In part 1 of this article series, we looked at data mining schemes, scam ad campaigns, concert tickets scams, and PayPal fund transfer scams. Today, we continue to list down the other scams you might encounter on Facebook. Bitcoin trading scam Who would have thought that a "simple" phishing schem...

VideoBytes: Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports

Hello Folks! In this Videobyte, we’re talking about why brute force attacks are increasing and why that is a problem for everyone. The number of RDP ports exposed to the Internet grew from about three million in January 2020 to over four and a half million in March. The reason for this increase i...

Smart toy security: How to keep your kids safe this Christmas

Christmas is coming, and so are the smart toys. The ever-present pandemic has meant a lot more staying at home this year. Videogame playing has increased considerably, because why not? Screentime for kids has gone up, because again, it’s bound to. It hasn’t brought about the end of civilisation a...

Likely lead generation scam targets potential Malwarebytes MSP partners

Recently, Malwarebytes discovered a potential lead generation scam targeting companies that are interested in our Malwarebtyes Managed Service Provider MSP Program. In the scam, an individual who used the name “Jenny” aggressively contacted potential MSP partners claiming to represent Malwarebyte...

Threat profile: Egregor ransomware is making a name for itself

What is Egregor? Egregor ransomware is a relatively new ransomware first spotted in September 2020 that seems intent on making its way to the top right now. Egregor is considered a variant of Ransom.Sekhmet based on similarities in obfuscation, API-calls, and the ransom note. As weve reported in...

NCSC: Be Cyber Aware, especially during the Christmas season

In early December, the National Cyber Security Centre, a UK-based cybersecurity body and a part of GCHQ, kicked off the next chapter of its Cyber Aware campaign initiative, focusing on online shopping threats during the Christmas season. Cyber Aware is the UK government’s "national campaign on...

SolarWinds advanced cyberattack: What happened and what to do now

We learned more about the sophisticated attack first disclosed on December 8 when security firm FireEye reported it had been the victim of a state-sponsored adversary that stole Red Team assessment tools. On December 13 there was a new development when IT company SolarWinds announced it had been...

A week in security (December 7 – December 13)

Last week on Malwarebytes podcast we talked to Doug Levin, founder of the K12 cybersecurity resource center and advisor to the K12 Security Information Exchange, about how schools can plan for a cybersecure 2021. We also released a Malwarebytes Labs report revealing that 50 percent of schools did...

Malwarebytes detects leaked tools from FireEye breach

Hello folks! If you have not heard yet, the security firm FireEye has had a breach of many red team assessment tools used for identification of vulnerabilities to help protect customers. While it is not known exactly who was behind this attack, a big concern is the sharing and use of these stolen...

Buying COVID-19 vaccines from the Dark Web? No thanks!

Even though we hope that this is an unnecessary warning, we do want to put it out there. As soon as there was talk about a vaccine being available against the COVID-19 virus there were vendors on the Dark Web offering Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines for sale. Now that the UK has started its...

VideoBytes: Ryuk Ransomware Targeting US Hospitals

Hello Folks! In this Videobyte, we’re talking about why hospitals are being targeted by the Ryuk ransomware, what tricks they are using to pull this off and what their motivations might be. Ryuk ransomware is being spread to hospitals using targeted phishing emails that infect systems with the...

Get a head start on defending against tax scams

It may not be tax season in your part of the world right now but you’ll no doubt be pleased to know a prolific tax scammer is on their way to jail for 20 years. If you’re annoyed by tax scam missives, or had the misfortune to hand money over, this is probably satisfying news. Between 2013 and 201...

Lock and Code S1Ep21: Lesson planning your school’s cybersecurity with Doug Levin

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs and around the Internet. In addition, we talk to Doug Levin, founder of the K12 cybersecurity resource center and advisor to the K12 Security Information Exchange, about how schools can plan for a...

50 percent of schools did not prepare for secure distance learning, Labs report reveals

Education in the United States faced a crisis this year. The looming threat of the coronavirus—which spreads easily in highly-populated, enclosed rooms—forced schools across the country to develop new strategies for education. The dramatic stress of this transition is known. Teachers are working...

File-sharing and cloud storage sites: How safe are they?

There it is again—that annoying message that pops up when your email client informs you that a file is too big to attach. Those of us that are confronted with this problem on a regular basis—and those of us that want to attach files that could get picked up by anti-malware scanners along the...

VideoBytes: Is it goodbye forever to Maze ransomware?

Hello Folks! In this Videobyte we’re talking about Maze ransomware and whether or not its shutting down, and what that means for the cybercrime world. The notorious Maze ransomware group, known for its corporate targeting and data leaking extortion schemes is, apparently, shutting down operations...

The many ways you can be scammed on Facebook, part I

Scams can be found anywhere, and Facebook is no exception. And, with the holiday season just around the corner, and the world still weathering a pandemic, it pays to know what Facebook scams you, those close to you, and those you have professional relationships with could potentially encounter...

Deep learning: An explanation and a peek into the future

Deep learning is one of the most advanced forms of machine learning, and is showing new developments in many industries. In this article, well explain the concept and give some examples of the latest and greatest ways its being used. What is deep learning? There have been many attempts at creatin...

Baltimore gets hit by ransomware again, the schools this time

All Baltimore County Public Schools closed Wednesday after the school system was hit with a ransomware attack, according to officials. Baltimore County Public Schools superintended Dr. Darryl Williams stated: “This morning, we decided to close all BCPS schools and offices in order to access and...

German users targeted with Gootkit banker or REvil ransomware

This blog post was authored by Hasherezade and Jérôme Segura On November 23, we received an alert from a partner about a resurgence of Gootkit infections in Germany. Gootkit is a very capable banking Trojan that has been around since 2014 and possesses a number of functionalities such as keystrok...

November spam roundup: Stalkers, property tips, porn, stern words and PayPal

Today were rounding up some of the interesting pieces of spam currently in circulation, taking in everything from housing deals to mysteriously free slices of cash. You may have seen some of these already. Hopefully we can help make up your mind about whatevers lurking in your mailbox. A full hou...

A week in security (November 23 – November 29)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we talked with Chris Boyd about charities that track you online. We also looked back at Zoom, and wondered whether its any safer months after its first vulnerability was reported. We talked about how Apples security is hampering the detection of potentially unwante...

IoT cybersecurity bill passed by Senate

Days before taking a week-long Thanksgiving recess, the US Senate passed an almost mundane cybersecurity bill that, if approved by the President, will improve security guidelines and protocols for Internet of Things IoT devices purchased and owned by the Federal government. The bill, called the...

Spotify resets some user logins after hacker database found floating online

A team of researchers working for vpnMentor has found a treasure trove in the form of an unsecured Elasticsearch database containing over 380 million records. The trove contained login credentials and other data belonging to Spotify users. So whats Spotify doing leaving its user data hanging arou...

Apple security hampers detection of unwanted programs

Anyone who uses Malwarebytes software is probably familiar with the fact that, in addition to things like malware and adware, Malwarebytes detects potentially unwanted programs PUPs. These are programs that exhibit a variety of unsavory behaviors, but that, for legal reasons, cannot be called...

Looks like we’re stuck with Zoom: Is it any safer?

Earlier this month, Zoom’s stock price took a dive on news of two promising COVID vaccines offering over 90 percent effectiveness against the virus a third vaccine was just announced. That’s nice. Glad to know some people think this nightmare is ending soon and we’ll all go back to the office and...

Lock and Code S1Ep20: Tracking the charities that track you online with Chris Boyd

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs and around the Internet. In addition, we talk to Chris Boyd, lead malware intelligence analyst for Malwarebytes, about charity organizations and online ad tracking. Though many might assume that these t...

Black Friday 2020: How to shop safely online

Black Friday 2020 promises to be somewhat different from years gone by thanks to COVID-19. The annual surge of in-store chaos and trolley dashes isn’t compatible with social distancing, and so retailers will be looking to drive shoppers online. Friday 27th November is when things kick off this...

Demystifying two common misconceptions with e-commerce security

Online shopping has seen a dramatic increase in the months following the Covid-19 outbreak as more and more people opt-out of visiting physical stores. Such a phenomenon does not go unnoticed or without additional consequences. During the same time period, we have seen an increase in the usual...

IoT forecast: Running antivirus on your smart device?

In 2016, threat actors pulled off a basic but devastating botnet attack that harnessed the power of the Internet of Things IoT. After gathering a list of 61 default username and password combinations for IoT devices, threat actors scanned the Internet for open Telnet ports and, when they found a...

Chris Krebs, director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, fired by President

On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, just days after CISA called the recent presidential election the “most secure in American history.” In a tweet posted the same day, the President justified his...

WebNavigator Chromium browser published by search hijackers

A mystery Chromium browser recently made a sudden appearance, and is certainly proving popular. But what is it, and where did it come from? Malwarebytes detects the browser as PUP.Optional.WebNavigator, and we found several clues that this browser was brought to you by a notorious family of searc...

Malsmoke operators abandon exploit kits in favor of social engineering scheme

Exploit kits continue to be used as a malware delivery platform. In 2020, weve observed a number of different malvertising campaigns leading to RIG, Fallout, Spelevo and Purple Fox, among others. And, in September, we put out a blog post detailing a surge in malvertising via adult websites. One o...

A week in security (November 9 – November 15)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we reported on multiple patch releases: from Mozillas Firefox and Thunderbird to Googles Chrome. We also had a chat with our resident experts, Adam Kujawa and John Donovan, about the future of IoT cybersecurity in our latest Lock and Code podcast episode. Lastly, w...