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...

Spamvertised ‘BT Business Direct Order’ themed emails lead to malware

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals have been spamvertising millions of emails targeting customers of BT’s Business Direct in an attempt to trick its users into executing the malicious attachment found in the emails. Upon executing it, the malware opens a backdoor on the infected host, allowing the cybercriminals behind the campaign to gain complete access to the affected host.

More details:

read more…

Cybercriminals impersonate Verizon Wireless, serve client-side exploits and malware

Verizon Wireless customers, beware!

For over a week now, cybercriminals have been persistently spamvertising millions of emails impersonating the company, in an attempt to trick current and prospective customers into clicking on the client-side exploits and malware serving links found in the malicious email.

Upon clicking on any of the links, users are exposed to the client-side exploits served by the latest version of the Black Hole Exploit Kit.

More details:

read more…

‘Your UPS Invoice is Ready’ themed emails serve malware

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals launched yet another massive spam campaign, impersonating the United Parcel Service (UPS), in an attempt to trick its current and prospective customers into downloading and executing the malicious attachment found in the email. Upon execution, the malware opens a backdoor on the infected host, allowing the cybercriminals behind the campaign to gain complete control over the victim’s host.

More details:

read more…

Russian cybercriminals release new DIY DDoS malware loader

On a daily basis, new market entrants into the cybercrime ecosystem attempt to monetize their coding skills by releasing and branding new DIY DDoS malware loaders. Largely dominated by “me too” features, these DIY malware loaders are purposely released with prices lower than the prices of competing bots, in an attempt by the cybercriminal behind them to gain market share – a necessary prerequisite for a successful long-term oriented business model.

In this post, I’ll profile a recently released Russian DDoS malware bot.

More details:

read more…

Malware campaign spreading via Facebook direct messages spotted in the wild

Trust is vital, and cybercriminals know that there’s a higher probability that you will click on a link sent by a trusted friend, not from a complete stranger.

Yesterday, one of my Facebook friends sent me a direct message indicating that his host has been compromised, and is currently being used to send links to a malicious .zip archive through direct messages to all of his Facebook friends.

More details:

read more…

‘Intuit Payroll Confirmation inquiry’ themed emails lead to the Black Hole exploit kit

Over the past 24 hours, cybercriminals launched two consecutive massive email campaigns, impersonating Intui Payroll’s Direct Deposit Service system, in an attempt to trick end and corporate users into clicking on the malicious links found in the mails.

Upon clicking on any of links found in the emails, users are exposed to the client-side exploits served by the latest version of the Black Hole exploit kit.

More details:

read more…