International Women’s Day: Women in tech share their stories

From the metoo movement to Oprah's Time's Up speech to the women's marches on cities throughout the world—it's been a banner year for women's rights. And on this International Women's Day, we wanted to do more than pay lip service to the changes in feminist dialogue. After all, tech is an industr...

The state of Mac malware

Mac users are often told that they don't need antivirus software, because there are no Mac viruses. However, this is not true at all, as Macs actually are affected by malware, and have been for most of their existence. Even the first well-known virus—Elk Cloner—affected Apple computers rather tha...

Building an incident response program: creating the framework

In part one of our series, our overview of Building an incident response plan, we discussed what regulations organizations will need to meet in order to address incident/breach response protocols laid out in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation GDPR. This week, we’ll talk to you about step...

Encryption 101: How to break encryption

Continuing on in our Encryption 101 series, where we gave a malware analyst's primer on encryption and demonstrated encryption techniques using ShiOne ransomware, we now look at what it takes to break an encryption. In order for something as powerful as encryption to break, there needs to be some...

Mobile Menace Monday: Olympics app has more ads than games

An app claiming to live stream the 2018 Winter Olympics but really serving up a blizzard of ads had a short run on Google Play. It was uploaded to the Play store on February 8, 2018. Since then, it's been removed. The last known existence of it on the store was a cached snapshot from February 10...

Week in security (February 26 – March 4)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we explained how to protect your computer from malicious cryptomining, we gave an encryption 101 lesson using ShiOne ransomware as a case study, and we offered an explanation about SQL injection. We also released a report on the state of malicious cryptomining from...

Massive DDoS attack washes over GitHub

There's been some huge DDoS distributed denial of service attacks over the years, but we've been…lucky?…enough to witness the latest raising of the stakes in the last couple of days. GitHub, an incredibly important code resource for major organisations around the world, fell victim to a colossal...

Explained: SQL injection

Even though SQL injection is a type of attack that is relatively easy to prevent, it is one of the most common web hacking techniques. So, what’s it all about? The basics SQL is short for Structured Query Language and usually pronounced as “sequel.” SQL is a standard language used to query and...

Blast from the past: stowaway Virut delivered with Chinese DDoS bot

Recently, we described an unusual Chinese drive-by attack that was delivering a variant of the Avzhan DDoS bot. The attack also contained multiple components that were not-so-new. Among the exploits, the newest was from 2016. Avzhan is also not a recent malware—the compilation timestamp of the...

RIG malvertising campaign uses cryptocurrency theme as decoy

For a couple of weeks, we have been observing a malvertising campaign that uses decoy websites to redirect users to the RIG exploit kit. Those sites, whose theme is about cryptocurrencies, were all registered recently and are swapped after a few days of use. The initial redirection starts off fro...

Encryption 101: ShiOne ransomware case study

In part one of this series, Encryption 101: a malware analyst's primer, we introduced some of the basic encryption concepts used in malware. If you haven't read it, we suggest going back for a review, as it's necessary in order to be able to fully follow part two, our case study. In this study, w...

Human Factor Podcast: Jenny Radcliffe and Chris Boyd

A little while ago, I was invited to take part in Jenny Radcliffe's Human Factor Podcast. With 44 episodes strong and counting!, Jenny spends an hour or so talking at length with her guests who are professional investigators, security advocates, all-round educators, tireless consultant/conference...

How to protect your computer from malicious cryptomining

Noticing that your computer is running slow? While sometimes a telltale sign of infection, these days that seems doubly true. And the reason is: malicious cryptomining. So, what, exactly, is it? We'll tell you how bad this latest malware phenomenon is for you and your computer, plus what you can ...

A week in security (February 19 – February 25)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we gave readers a primer on encryption, took a stab at that Deepfakes tool Internet users seem to be interested in, and started a new series that talks about GDPR. We also looked at a drive-by download campaign that starts in booby-trapped Chinese websites that dro...

The state of malicious cryptomining

While cryptocurrencies have been around for a long time and used for legitimate purposes, online criminals have certainly tarnished their reputation. Unfortunately, the same benefits offered by these decentralized and somewhat anonymous digital currencies were quickly abused to extort money, as w...

Avzhan DDoS bot dropped by Chinese drive-by attack

The Avzhan DDoS bot has been known since 2010, but recently we saw it in wild again, being dropped by a Chinese drive-by attack. In this post, we'll take a deep dive into its functionality and compare the sample we captured with the one described in the past. Analyzed sample...

Deepfakes FakeApp tool (briefly) includes cryptominer

A few weeks ago, we took a look at a forum dedicated to Deepfake clips where the site was pushing Coinhive mining scripts in the website's HTML code. As it turns out, there's been another mining blow-out in the form of one of the apps used to make the fakes. That's right—a tool designed to push...

Drive-by download campaign targets Chinese websites, experiments with exploits

During our web crawls we sometimes come across bizarre findings or patterns we haven't seen before. This was the case with a particular drive-by download attack planted on Chinese websites. While by no means advanced it turned out to be fairly buggy, we witnessed a threat actor experimenting with...

How to build an incident response program: GDPR guidelines

In today’s computing world, it is not a matter of “if” an organization will get compromised, but “when.” That’s why, in addition to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation GDPR going into effect this May, many organizations need to have a robust incident response program to ensure...

Encryption 101: a malware analyst’s primer

While most in the security industry know what encryption is, many lack a basic understanding of how it is used in malware—especially ransomware. Because of this, we thought it would be beneficial to do an introductory primer on encryption mechanisms and how they are exploited for malicious...

A week in security (February 12 – February 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at a huge Android cryptomining campaign, malicious apps on Google Play, and some Apple scams doing the rounds. We also explored the world of healthcare security, and dived into the land of scammy Valentine's Day tricks and cheats. Other news Thought the...

Physician, protect thyself: healthcare cybersecurity circling the drain

No one knows you better than you do. But thanks to technology advances and the continued digitization of healthcare data accumulation and sharing processes, we can also honestly say the same about your healthcare provider. Indeed, every time we get in touch with a health professional, data is...

Online security tips for Valentine’s Day: how to beat the cheats

Valentine's Day is upon us once more, and so are lots of dating-friendly security tips. Read on and secure your profile, alongside one hopes the love of your life. 1. Not so hot singles in your area Many dating apps have geotagging enabled, regardless of whether you created your profile on a...

Panic attack: Apple scams apply pressure

We've seen a number of Apple-related phishes in circulation over the last few days. While most of them already lead to deactivated phishing sites, we thought it was worth highlighting some of the tricks being used to bait people into handing over payment details at the moment. Fake receipt emails...

Kotlin-based malicious apps penetrate Google market

An open-source programming language, Kotlin is a fully-supported official programming language for Android. Google boasts that Kotlin contains safety features in order to make apps "healthy by default." Many apps are already built with Kotlin, from the hottest startups to Fortune 500 companies...

A week in security (February 5 – February 11)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we featured a new Flash Player zero-day that has been found in recent targeted attacks. And we talked about a new trick to cripple browsers that came out of the hat of tech support scammers. We also covered several methods of stealing cryptocurrencies, including on...

Drive-by cryptomining campaign targets millions of Android users

Malvertising and online fraud through forced redirects and Trojanized apps—to cite the two most common examples—are increasingly plaguing Android users. In many cases, this is made worse by the fact that people often don't use web filtering or security applications on their mobile devices. A...

Bank robbers 2.0: digital thievery and stolen cryptocoins

Imagine running down the street and away from law enforcement with 2,000 pounds of gold bars. Or 1,450 pounds in $100 bills. With both of these physical currencies amounting to roughly US$64 million, you'd be making quite a steal…if you could get away with it. That's exactly what the next...

New Deepfakes forum goes mining with Coinhive

You may or may be familiar with the furore over Deepfakes, a relatively new development in pornography involving a tool called FacesApp, which is capable of producing a real porn clip that replaces the original actors' heads with those of celebrities—or indeed, anyone at all. Online fakes have be...

Bogus hack apps hack users back for cryptocash

Recently, we discovered a gold…er…APK mine of fake hacking apps. The "legitimate" versions of hack apps are intended to hack other apps in order to get something for free. Although it’s unclear what exactly these fake apps claim to hack, the real hack job is done to unsuspecting users. Search and...

New Mac cryptominer has 23 older variants

On February 1, a new Mac cryptominer was discovered being distributed via a hack of the MacUpdate website. Since then, we've been doing some digging and found that this isolated incident was just the tip of the iceberg. The malware delivered by the MacUpdate hack appears to be the culmination of...

Safer Internet Day 2018: ad blockers and anti-trackers

The path to a safer Internet can be a bit of a quandary. What programs should you buy? How long should your passwords be? Is it okay to write them down? What makes a website secure? All of these questions can merit their own lengthy essays, so today, on Safer Internet Day, we’re going to look at...

Tech support scammers find new way to jam Google Chrome (updated)

Update 1 2018-02-07: This issue with Google Chrome was reported here and merged here. Update 2 2018-02-07: Firefox and Brave seem to be affected by this bug as well both vendors were informed. During the past quarter we have noted an increase in fake browser alerts pushing tech support scams. Mos...

New Flash Player zero-day comes inside Office document

Update 2018-02-06: Adobe has released a patch for this vulnerability. More information is available here. We tested this zero-day with a proof-of concept that was made available. Rather than launching it from within Office, we turned it into a drive-by download attack. The animation below shows...

A week in security (January 29 – February 04)

Last week on Labs, we looked into PUPs stealing and using mainstream logos of security and tech companies to further gain user trust, GandCrab and Scarab ransomware variants in the wild, and a new Mac malware called OSX.CreativeUpdater that can be distributed via MacUpdate. We also profiled...

Boomerang spam bombs Malwarebytes forum—not a smart move

Tech support scammers are generally not the best and brightest. As such, they will occasionally post ads for their fake companies in the comment sections here or on the Malwarebytes forums. Last week, however, scammers struggled with configuring their spambots, resulting in spam bombs on the foru...

New Mac cryptominer distributed via a MacUpdate hack

Early this morning, security researcher Arnaud Abbati of SentinelOne tweeted about new Mac malware being distributed via MacUpdate. This malware, which Abbati has named OSX.CreativeUpdate, is a new cryptocurrency miner, designed to sit in the background and use your computer's CPU to mine the...

Ransomware’s difficult second album

The last year has seen all manner of cybercrime, from scams and social engineering to malvertising and malspam. What's interesting is that so many "next-gen," sophisticated malware mainstays like exploits have dropped in popularity, while other more traditional types such as spyware have shot up...

Stop telephoning me-eh-eh-eh-eh: robocalls explained

If you've ever answered a call from anyone outside your contact list only to hear a recorded message playing back at you, you have just been robocalled. Unfortunately for American consumers, this happens several times a day, seven days a week. Suffice to say, this is beyond annoying—and it's...

Scarab ransomware: new variant changes tactics

The Scarab ransomware was discovered in June 2017. Since then, several variants have been created and discovered in the wild. The most popular or widespread versions were distributed via the Necurs botnet and initially written in Visual C compiled. However, after unpacking, we've found that anoth...

GandCrab ransomware distributed by RIG and GrandSoft exploit kits (updated)

This post was authored by Vasilios Hioueras and Jérôme Segura Update 2018-02-02: GandCrab is delivered via Necurs malicious spam 1. Update 2018-02-01: GandCrab is now also spread via the EITest campaign 2 3. - - Late last week saw the appearance of a new ransomware called GandCrab. Surprisingly, ...

Stolen security logos used to falsely endorse PUPs

To gain the trust of users, many websites and companies feature the logos of reputable firms who endorse their products. Unfortunately, some unseemly companies do the same, using logos of companies who have not, in fact, endorsed their product in order to trick people into thinking that what they...

A week in security (January 22 – January 28)

Last week on Labs, we analyzed a rogue app outbreak on Twitter, took a look at how Singapore's government is faring with network defense, and rolled out our 2017 State of Malware report. We also became visionaries in Gartner's Magic Quadrant report and explored a VR data mishap. Other news Man...

How to remove adware from your PC

“Close. Close. Close. Close,” my mother mumbles as she aggressively clicks her mouse over and over. “What’s wrong, Ma?” I’m home for the holidays, and cozy, cold evenings are often spent in front of the fireplace. This night, however, my mom is stuck at her computer. “This stupid thing won’t stop...

IMPORTANT: Web blocking / RAM usage announcement

On January 27, we published a protection update that caused connection issues for many of our customers. As a side effect of the web protection blocks, the product also spiked memory usage and possibly caused a crash. We have triaged this issue and pushed a protection update that resolves it. For...

Plugging a virtual leak: insecure VR app exposes customer data

I've been giving talks on the possible problems raised by virtual/augmented/mixed reality for a while now, and sure enough, we have what may be one of the first potentially major security issues thrown up by an in-the-wild application. Until a recent fix was applied, users of the pornography app...

Gartner recognizes Malwarebytes as a “Visionary” in the Magic Quadrant

I’m proud to announce that Gartner has recognized Malwarebytes as a “visionary” in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. Malwarebytes was selected for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. Our goal is to give every user a malware-free experience and empow...

Presenting: Malwarebytes Labs 2017 State of Malware Report

2017 was a tumultuous year in politics, media, gender, race—and cybersecurity didn’t beat the rap. Last year was full of twists and turns in the cybercrime world, with major outbreaks, new infection methods, and the evolution of the cryptocurrency crime industry. In aiming to make sense of the...

Singapore government gets into the network defense game

There is a common assumption in the infosec community that enormous breaches like those at Equifax, Anthem, and Target are the new norm. That the next mega breach is simply a matter of time. This is because large companies loathe spending money on things that are not directly profitable like secu...

“Who visits your Twitter profile” spam app brings week of chaos

Twitter spam has been around forever, and rogue apps asking for installs in return for a cool feature to be more accurate, spamming your contacts is a constant thorn in our Twittery sides. Over the weekend, we observed a new Twitter app doing the rounds and causing a lot of congestion on people's...