Hat trick for Google as it patches two more zero-days in Chrome

Slightly over a week ago we advised you to update your Chrome browser. That warning came only a week or so after we advised you to update your Chrome browser. Things are getting a bit repetitive round here. Today, we are compelled to repeat that statement as Google has issued patches for two new...

Surviving college distance learning during the pandemic: a cybersecurity guide

Social distancing, the wearing of face masks, practicing hand hygiene, and disinfecting often-touched surfaces have become human necessities during the pandemic era. For schools, theyve also had to adapt quickly to incorporate distance learning methods that let students continue their studies. Bu...

RegretLocker, new ransomware, can encrypt Windows virtual hard disks

Cybersecurity researchers discovered a new ransomware last month called RegretLocker that, despite a no-frills package, can do serious damage to virtual hard disks on Windows machines. Through a clever trick, RegretLocker can bypass the often-long encryption times required when encrypting a...

Mozilla patches critical security issues in Firefox and Thunderbird

Mozilla has issued a critical patch for Firefox, Firefox ESR, and Thunderbird after a security issue was discovered at the Tianfu Cup 2020 International Cybersecurity Contest The security issue has been assigned CVE-2020-26950 which has the “reserved” status. Publicly disclosed computer security...

Lock and Code S1Ep19: Forecasting IoT cybersecurity with John Donovan and Adam Kujawa

This week on Lock and Code, we offer something special for listeners—a backstage pass to a cybersecurity training that we held for employees during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which ended in October. The topic? The future of cybersecurity for the Internet of Things. Our guests, Chief Informati...

Update your iOS now! Apple patches three zero-day vulnerabilities

Apple has patched three vulnerabilities in iOS and iPadOS that were actively being exploited in targeted attacks. Vulnerabilities that are being exploited in the wild without a patch being available are referred to as zero-days. The vulnerabilities were found and disclosed by Google’s Project Zer...

RegTech explained: a crucial toolset for the financial industry

Every organization in the financial industry needs to meet certain regulatory obligations, even if it’s just filing a tax return or submitting an annual report. In certain industries, such as financial services, theyve added their own additional sets of rules that must be adhered to. For example,...

Prop 24 passes in California, will change data privacy law

First-day returns in California showed voters firmly approving to change their state’s current data privacy law—which already guarantees certain privacy protections that many states do not—through the passage of Prop 24. As of the morning of November 4, according to The Sacramento Bee, 56.1 perce...

QBot Trojan delivered via malspam campaign exploiting US election uncertainties

This blog post was authored by Jérôme Segura and Hossein Jazi. The 2020 US elections have been the subject of intense scrutiny and emotions, while happening in the middle of a global pandemic. As election night ended and uncertainty regarding the results began to creep in, threat actors decided t...

Update your Chrome again as Google patches second zero-day in two weeks

Before you start to Google for election news, wed like you to check whether your browser is at the latest and safest version. “Again?”, Chrome users may say. Yes, because Google has found another zero-day vulnerability - that means its a hole that is actively being exploited right now. Its the...

Maze ransomware gang announces retirement

The threat actors behind Maze ransomware have announced their retirement. On November 1, they posted the retirement announcement on the website where they would normally name and shame their victims that were unwilling to pay the ransom. image courtesy of Graham Cluley "The Project is closed. Maz...

Hospital ransomware: Gangs are back to target healthcare

Healthcare is not in a good place right now. With some countries and states deciding to go back in to lockdown due to the continued rise of reported COVID-19 infections—and several garnering record-high numbers compared to when almost every country initially went into lockdown—it seems horrible...

A week in security (October 26 – November 1)

We had a very busy week at Malwarebytes Labs. We offered advice on Googles patch for an actively exploited zero-day bug that affects Chrome users, our podcast talked about finding consumer value in Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Jamie Court, we provided guidance about keeping ransomware cash...

Vastaamo psychotherapy data breach sees the most vulnerable victims extorted

“Hell is too nice a place for these people.” Never have we seen outrage about a cybercrime at such a level. The outrage is aimed at cybercriminals behind the data breach that occurred at Finnish psychotherapy practice Vastaamo. Vastaamo, which has treated some 40,000 patients, is a subcontractor ...

California’s Prop 24 splits data privacy supporters

California’s data privacy house is divided. On the Golden State’s November ballot this year is the question as to whether to amend California’s barely-two-year-old data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act. Far from the first attempt to change the fledgling law, Proposition 24 sets...

HP printer issue on Mac: What happened?

Apple holds the keys to nearly all recent Mac software. This is a story of those keys, and how a Hewlett Packard HP error caused problems for a lot of people. Code signing and certificates First, its important to understand that when I say "keys," what I really mean is "certificates." These...

New Emotet delivery method spotted during downward detection trend

Emotet, one of cybersecurity’s most-feared malware threats, got a superficial facelift this week, hiding itself within a fake Microsoft Office request that asks users to update Microsoft Word so that they can take advantage of new features. This revamped presentation could point to internal effor...

Fake COVID-19 survey hides ransomware in Canadian university attack

This post was authored by Jérôme Segura with contributions from Hossein Jazi, Hasherezade and Marcelo Rivero. In recent weeks, weve observed a number of phishing attacks against universities worldwide which we attributed to the Silent Librarian APT group. On October 19, we identified a new phishi...

Scammers are spoofing bank phone numbers to rob victims

It can be a very convincing trick… “You can check the number in your display online sir. You’ll see I’m really calling from your bank.” That is, of course, if you are unaware that phone numbers can be spoofed. Then again, they wouldn’t be successful scammers if they weren’t convincing. If you...

Keeping ransomware cash away from your business

A ransomware gang has made headlines for donating a big chunk of stolen funds to two charities. Two separate donations given to Children International and The Water Project rang tills to the tune of $10,000 each. Their reason was that they’re targeting “only large profitable corporations, we thin...

Lock and Code S1Ep18: Finding consumer value in Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Jamie Court

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 Jamie Court, president of the non-profit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, about the consumer value in Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Launched initially ...

Google patches actively exploited zero-day bug that affects Chrome users

Google has recently released Chrome version 86.0.4240.111 to patch several holes. One is for a zero-day flaw - that means a vulnerability that is being actively exploited in the wild. The flaw, which is officially designated as CVE-2020-15999, occurs in the way FreeType handles PNG images embedde...

The value of cybersecurity integration for MSPs

For modern Managed Service Providers MSPs, gone are the days of disparate workflows, and that’s really for the best. Imagine trying to run a successful MSP business today—finding potential customers, procuring new clients, developing purchase orders, managing endpoints, and sending invoices—all...

XSS to TSS: tech support scam campaign abuses cross-site scripting vulnerability

Tech support browser lockers continue to be one of the most common web threats. Not only are they a problem for end users who might end up on the phone with scammers defrauding them of hundreds of dollars, theyve also caused quite the headache for browser vendors to fix. Browser lockers are only...

Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports

While leaving your back door open while you are working from home may be something you do without giving it a second thought, having unnecessary ports open on your computer is a security risk that is sometimes underestimated. Thats because an open port can be subject to brute force attacks. What...

A week in security (October 12 – October 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at journalism’s role in cybersecurity on our Lock and Code podcast, gave tips for safer shopping on Amazon Prime day, and discussed an APT attack springing into life as Academia returned to the real and virtual campus environment. We also dug into potenti...

Deepfakes and the 2020 United States election: missing in action?

If you believe reports in the news, impending deepfake disaster is headed our way in time for the 2020 United States election. Political intrigue, dubious clips, mischief and mayhem were all promised. We’ll need to be careful around clips of the President issuing statements about being at war, or...

How Covid fatigue puts your physical and digital health in jeopardy

After six months of social distancing, sheltering in place, working from home, distance learning, mask-wearing, hand-washing, and plenty of hand-wringing, people are pretty damn tired of COVID-19. And with no magic bullet yet and no end in sight, annoyance has turned into exasperation and even...

QR code scams are making a comeback

Just when we thought the QR code was on its way out, the pandemic has led to a return of the scannable shortcut. COVID-19 has meant finding a digital equivalent to things normally handed out physically, like menus, tour guides, and other paperwork, and many organizations have adopted the QR code ...

FIFA 21 game scams: watch out for unsporting conduct

Despite COVID-19, soccer season is slowly ebbing its way back into daily life around the world. Its also sneaking back onto TV screens in the form of huge-budget video games. Step up to the plate, FIFA 21. FIFA games: the football juggernaut The FIFA series is an absolute monster in terms of sale...

Silent Librarian APT right on schedule for 20/21 academic year

A threat actor known as Silent Librarian/TA407/COBALT DICKENS has been actively targeting universities via spear phishing campaigns since schools and universities went back. In mid-September, we were tipped off by one of our customers about a new active campaign from this APT group. Based off a...

Amazon Prime Day—8 tips for safer shopping

Avid Amazon Prime Day shoppers may have been worried theyd missed it this year—thanks coronavirus. Fear not, last month Amazon announced Prime Day will take place three months after its original annual date, beginning today. And this year, itll take place over two days, rather than one. This coul...

Lock and Code S1Ep17: Journalism’s role in cybersecurity with Alfred Ng and Seth Rosenblatt

Most everything about cybersecurity—the threats, the vulnerabilities, the breaches and the blunders—doesnt happen in a vacuum. And the public doesn’t learn about those things because threat actors advertise their exploits, or because companies trumpet their lackluster data security practices. No,...

Credit card skimmer targets virtual conference platform

Weve seen many security incidents affecting different websites simultaneously because they were loading the same tampered piece of code. In many instances, this is due to what we call a supply-chain attack, where a threat actor targets one company that acts as an intermediary to others. In todays...

Healthcare security update: death by ransomware, what’s next?

A recent ransomware attack which played a significant role in the death of a German woman has put into focus both the dangers and the importance of cybersecurity today. But it has also led some to point fingers as to who was responsible. As usual, playing the blame game helps no one, but it does...

Risky business: survey shows majority of people use work devices for personal use

There’s no denying the coronavirus pandemic is having a significant impact on the way we use technology. Some changes feel like a subtle acceleration of behavioral shifts that were already well underway i.e. more online shopping and more streaming TV/movies. Other changes are more extreme and we’...

Release the Kraken: Fileless injection into Windows Error Reporting service

This blog post was authored by Hossein Jazi and Jérôme Segura. On September 17th, we discovered a new attack called Kraken that injected its payload into the Windows Error Reporting WER service as a defense evasion mechanism. That reporting service, WerFault.exe, is usually invoked when an error...

Mobile network operator falls into the hands of Fullz House criminal group

Update 2020-10-05: The malicious code has been removed from Boom! Mobiles website Most victims of Magecart-based attacks tend to be typical online shops selling various goods. However, every now and again we come across different types of businesses which were affected simply because they happene...

A week in security (September 28 – October 4)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we dug into what happens when card fraud comes calling, we gave a rundown on some novel ransomware attacks that took advantage of smart coffee makers, and we introduced VideoBytes, our new, monthly series in which well provide video coverage of some of the...

VideoBytes: Ransomware gets wasted!

Hello dear readers, and welcome to the latest edition of VideoBytes! On todays episode, were talking about how ransomware is on the rise again, focused on attacking corporations with malware that not only encrypts files, but also steals it. The tactics used to deploy these forms of ransomware hav...

Chaos in a cup: When ransomware creeps into your smart coffee maker

When the fledgling concept of the Internet of Things IoT was beginning to excite the world almost a decade ago, perhaps no coffee lover at that time wouldve imagined including the coffee machine in the roster of internet-connected devices—even in jest. True, the simple, utilitarian coffee machine...

VideoBytes: Twitter gets hacked!

Hello dear readers, and welcome to the latest and greatest from VideoBytes: a brand new, video feature that we announced just yesterday. On our debut post today, were talking to you about the Twitter hack, in which hackers accessed the Twitter accounts of 130 high profile figures, like Barack...

Introducing VideoBytes, by Malwarebytes Labs

We have exciting news for avid readers of Malwarebytes Labs: This week, we’re launching a new, monthly video series that will feature the research, insights, and commentary of our own Adam Kujawa, security evangelist and a director for Malwarebytes Labs. Welcome to VideoBytes, our little corner o...

Caught in the payment fraud net: when, not if?

Sometimes, I think there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and some form of payment fraud. Security reporter Danny Palmer experienced this a little while ago, and has spent a significant amount of time tracking the journey of his card details from the UK to Suriname. His deep-dive...

Lock and Code S1Ep16: Investigating digital vulnerabilities with Samy Kamkar

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 Samy Kamkar, chief security officer and co-founder of Open Path, about the digital vulnerabilities in our physical world. If you look through a recent...

Taurus Project stealer now spreading via malvertising campaign

For the past several months, Taurus Project—a relatively new stealer that appeared in the spring of 2020—has been distributed via malspam campaigns targeting users in the United States. The macro-laced documents spawn a PowerShell script that invokes certutil to run an autoit script ultimately...

Sandbox in security: what is it, and how it relates to malware

To better understand modern malware detection methods, it’s a good idea to look at sandboxes. In cybersecurity, the use of sandboxes has gained a lot of traction over the last decade or so. With the plethora of new malware coming our way every day, security researchers needed something to test ne...

Phishers spoof reliable cybersecurity training company to garner clicks

"It happens to the best of us." And, indeed, no adage is better suited to a phishing campaign that recently made headlines. Fraudsters used the brand, KnowBe4—a trusted cybersecurity company that offers security awareness training for organizations—to gain recipients’ trust, their Microsoft Outlo...

A week in security (September 14 – 20)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at Fintech industry developments, specifically the differences between Europe and the US, and we analyzed how some charities and the advertising industry are tied together. We also told readers about what companies can do to counter domain name abuse. In...

Is domain name abuse something companies should worry about?

Even though some organizations and companies may not realize it, their domain name is an important asset. Their web presence can even make or break companies. Therefor, "domain name abuse" is something that can ruin your reputation. Losing control There are several ways in which perpetrators can...