Threat Lab

Girl Scouts and OpenText empower future leaders of tomorrow with cyber resilience

The transition to a digital-first world enables us to connect, work and live in a realm where information is available at our fingertips. The children of today will be working in an environment of tomorrow that is shaped by hyperconnectivity. Operating in this...

World Backup Day reminds us all just how precious our data is

Think of all the important files sitting on your computer right now. If your computer crashed tomorrow, would you be able to retrieve your important files? Would your business suffer as a result? As more and more of our daily activities incorporate digital and online...

3 Reasons We Forget Small & Midsized Businesses are Major Targets for Ransomware

The ransomware attacks that make headlines and steer conversations among cybersecurity professionals usually involve major ransoms, huge corporations and notorious hacking groups. Kia Motors, Accenture, Acer, JBS…these companies were some of the largest to be...

How Ransomware Sneaks In

Ransomware has officially made the mainstream. Dramatic headlines announce the latest attacks and news outlets highlight the staggeringly high ransoms businesses pay to retrieve their stolen data. And it’s no wonder why – ransomware attacks are on the rise and the...

An MSP and SMB guide to disaster preparation, recovery and remediation

Introduction It’s important for a business to be prepared with an exercised business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan plan before its hit with ransomware so that it can resume operations as quickly as possible. Key steps and solutions should be followed...

Podcast: Cyber resilience in a remote work world

The global pandemic that began to send us packing from our offices in March of last year upended our established way of working overnight. We’re still feeling the effects. Many office workers have yet to return to the office in the volumes they worked in pre-pandemic....

5 Tips to get Better Efficacy out of Your IT Security Stack

If you’re an admin, service provider, security executive, or are otherwise affiliated with the world of IT solutions, then you know that one of the biggest challenges to overcome is efficacy. Especially in terms of cybersecurity, efficacy is something of an amorphous...

How Cryptocurrency and Cybercrime Trends Influence One Another

Typically, when cryptocurrency values change, one would expect to see changes in crypto-related cybercrime. In particular, trends in Bitcoin values tend to be the bellwether you can use to predict how other currencies’ values will shift, and there are usually...

Malicious ‘Facebook Account Cancellation Request” themed emails serve client-side exploits and malware

Jan 31, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

In December, 2012, we intercepted a professional-looking email that was impersonating Facebook Inc. in an attempt to trick its users into thinking that they’ve received an “Account Cancellation Request“. In reality, once users clicked on the links, their hosts were automatically exploited through outdated and already patched client-side vulnerabilities, which dropped malware on the affected PCs.

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals have resumed spamvertising tens of thousands of legitimate-looking Facebook themed emails, once again using the same social engineering theme.

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A peek inside a DIY password stealing malware

Jan 30, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

On a daily basis, we continue to observe the emergence of the DIY (do-it-yourself) trend within the entire cybercrime ecosystem. And although the DIY activity cannot be compared to the malicious impact caused by “cybercrime-as-a-service” managed underground market propositions, it allows virtually anyone to enter the profitable world of cybercrime, thanks to the ongoing leaks of proprietary malware generating tools and freely available alternatives.

In this post, I’ll profile the latest version of a Russian DIY password stealing malware that’s targeting multiple browers, Email, IM, FTP clients, as well as online poker clients.

Fake ‘FedEx Online Billing – Invoice Prepared to be Paid’ themed emails lead to Black Hole Exploit Kit

Jan 29, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Users of FedEx’s Online Billing service, watch out!

Cybercriminals are currently mass mailing tens of thousands of emails impersonating the company, in an attempt to trick its customers into clicking on exploits and malware dropping links found in the legitimate-looking emails.

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Bogus ‘Your Paypal Transaction Confirmation’ themed emails lead to Black Hole Exploit Kit

Jan 28, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Financial institutions and online payment processors are a common target for cybercriminals, who systematically brand-jack and abuse the reputation of their trusted brands, in an attempt to scam or serve malware to their customers.

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals have launched yet another spam campaign, impersonating PayPal, in an attempt to trick its users into thinking that they’ve received a “Transaction Confirmation“, which in reality they never really made. Once users click on any of the links found in the malicious emails, they’re exposed to the client-side exploits served by the Black Hole Exploit Kit.

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Novice cybercriminals experiment with DIY ransomware tools

Jan 25, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

For years, the DIY (do-it-yourself) trend has been evident across the entire cybercrime ecosystem.

From the early exploits generating DIY tools that set the foundations for the upcoming “malicious economies of scale” trend to emerge, to the ongoing leaks of DIY botnet and malware generating tools that were once only available to advanced attackers, it’s never been easier to enter the world of cybercrime.

In this post, I’ll profile a novice cybercriminal’s approach to entering the profitable world of ransomware.

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Fake LinkedIn ‘Invitation Notifications’ themed emails lead to client-side exploits and malware

Jan 24, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

LinkedIn users, watch what you click on!

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals have launched yet another massive spam campaign, impersonating LinkedIn, in an attempt to trick its users into clicking on the malicious links found in the bogus “Invitation Notification” themed emails. Once they click on the links, users are automatically exposed to the client-side exploits served by the Black Hole Exploit Kit.

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Fake Intuit ‘Direct Deposit Service Informer’ themed emails lead to Black Hole Exploit Kit

Jan 23, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Cybercriminals are currently spamvertising tens of thousands of fake emails, impersonating Intuit, in an attempt to trick its customers and users into clicking on the malicious links found in the emails.

Once users click on any of the links, they’re exposed to the client-side exploits served by the latest version of the Black Hole Exploit Kit, which ultimately drops malware on the affected hosts.

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Android malware spreads through compromised legitimate Web sites

Jan 22, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Over the past 24 hours, our sensor networks picked up an interesting website infection affecting a popular Bulgarian website for branded watches, which ultimately redirects and downloads premium rate SMS Android malware on the visiting user devices. The affected Bulgarian website is only the tip of the iceberg, based on the diversified portfolio of malicious domains known to have been launched by the same party that launched the original campaign.

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Email hacking for hire going mainstream – part three

Jan 21, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Just as we anticipated on two occasions in 2012, managed email hacking for hire services continue popping-up at publicly accessible cybercrime-friendly communities, a trend that’s largely driven by the demand for such services by unethical competition, “friends”, or current/ex-spouses.

Often pitched as “forgotten password recovery” services, they rely on social engineering, brute-forcing, and spear phishing campaigns, often leading to a successful compromise of a targeted account. Based on the number of positive vouches, the services continue receiving a steady stream off satisfied and verified customers.

In this post, I’ll profile one of the most recently advertised email hacking for hire services, specializing in hacking GMail and Yahoo! accounts, as well as email accounts using popular free Russian email service providers. How much does it cost to hack a Gmail or Yahoo! account? What about corporate email?

Let’s find out.

Leaked DIY malware generating tool spotted in the wild

Jan 18, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

How easy is it to create an undetected piece of malware these days? Too easy to be true!

With more DIY malware botnets and DIY malware generating tools continuing to leak at public cybercrime-friendly forums, today’s novice cybercriminals have access to sophisticated point’n’click malware generating tools that were once only available in the arsenal of the experienced cybercriminal.

In this post, I’ll profile a recently leaked DIY malware generating tool, discuss its core features, and emphasize on its relevance in the context of the big picture when it comes to ongoing waves of malicious activity we’ve been monitoring over the years.

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Cybercriminals resume spamvertising fake Vodafone ‘A new picture or video message’ themed emails, serve malware

Jan 17, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals resumed spamvertising fake Vodafone MMS themed emails, in an attempt to trick the company’s customers into executing the malicious attachment found in these emails.

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‘Batch Payment File Declined’ EFTPS themed emails lead to Black Hole Exploit Kit

Jan 16, 2013 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Cybercriminals are currently mass mailing tens of thousands of emails, impersonating the EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System), in an attempt to trick its users into clicking on exploits and malware serving malicious links found in the emails.

More details: