Last week on Labs, we highlighted an Emotet campaign using Snowden’s new book as a lure, discussed how 15,000 webcams are vulnerable to attack, how insurance data security laws skirt political turmoil, and how the new iOS exploit checkm8 allows permanent compromise of iPhones. Other cybersecurity news Google said its quantum computer outperformed conventional models, but it will still be … [Read more...]
September 30, 2019
September 23, 2019
Emotet malspam campaign uses Snowden’s new book as lure
Exactly one week ago, Emotet, one of the most dangerous threats to organizations in the last year, resumed its malicious spam campaigns after several months of inactivity. Based on our telemetry, we can see that the botnet started becoming chatty with its command and control servers (C2), about a week or so before the spam came through. Figure 1: Communications with Emotet C2s over 90 … [Read more...]
September 23, 2019
A week in security (September 16 -22)
Last week on Labs, we sounded the alarm about the relaunch of Emotet, one of the year’s most dangerous forms of malware, with a new spam campaign. We also reported on how international students in UK are targeted by visa scammers, what CEOs think about a potential US data privacy law, and introduced Malwarebytes Browser Guard. Finally, we looked at the role of data destruction in … [Read more...]
September 23, 2019
A week in security (September 16 -22)
Last week on Labs, we sounded the alarm about the relaunch of Emotet, one of the year’s most dangerous forms of malware, with a new spam campaign. We also reported on how international students in UK are targeted by visa scammers, what CEOs think about a potential US data privacy law, and introduced Malwarebytes Browser Guard. Finally, we looked at the role of data destruction in … [Read more...]
September 16, 2019
Emotet is back: botnet springs back to life with new spam campaign
After a fairly long hiatus that lasted nearly four months, Emotet is back with an active spam distribution campaign. For a few weeks, there were signs that the botnet was setting its gears in motion again, as we observed command and control (C2) server activity. But this morning, the Trojan started pumping out spam, a clear indication it’s ready to jump back into action. The malicious … [Read more...]
September 3, 2019
A week in security (August 26 – September 1)
Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we analysed the Android xHelper trojan, we wondered why the Nextdoor app would send out letters on behalf of their customers, reported about a study that explores the clickjacking problem across top Alexa-ranked websites, wondered how to get the board to invest in higher education cybersecurity, and shared our view on the discovery of unprecedented new iPhone … [Read more...]
September 3, 2019
TrickBot adds new trick to its arsenal: tampering with trusted texts
Researchers from Dell Secureworks saw a new feature in TrickBot that allows it to tamper with the web sessions of users who have certain mobile carriers. According to a blog post that they published early last week, TrickBot can do this by “intercepting network traffic before it is rendered by a victim’s browser.” If you may recall, TrickBot, a well-known banking Trojan we detect as … [Read more...]
August 23, 2019
Ransomware continues assault against cities and businesses
Ransomware continues to make waves in the US, forcing multiple cities and organizations into tough choices. Pressed for cash and time, local government organizations are left with few options: Either pay the ransom as soon as possible and encourage criminals to continue bringing essential services to their knees, or refuse and be left with a massive cleanup bill. When a $50,000 ransom becomes … [Read more...]
August 14, 2019
Trojans, ransomware dominate 2018–2019 education threat landscape
Heading into the new school year, we know educational institutions have a lot to worry about. Teacher assignments. Syllabus development. Gathering supplies. Readying classrooms. But one issue should be worrying school administrators and boards of education more than most: securing their networks against cybercrime. In the 2018–2019 school year, education was the top target for … [Read more...]
May 10, 2019
Vital infrastructure: Threats target financial institutions, fintech, and cryptocurrencies
With news of a malware attack on accounting firm Wolters Kluwer causing a “quiet panic” in the accounting world this week, our assertion that financial institutions—from banks to brokers—are part of the vital infrastructure of society has been solidified. According to its website, Wolters Kluwer provides software and services to all of the top 100 accounting firms in the United … [Read more...]
