Warning! macOS Infostealer Malware Is on the Rise: How It Works
Infostealer malware is malicious software that wants to steal your secret records, especially passwords and cryptocurrency. Palo Alto Networks published a guide to three top strains of macOS Infostealer malware: Atomic Stealer, Poseidon Stealer, and Cthulhu Stealer. These malicious programs can be smuggled onto your computer in various ways, usually disguised as something safe like a PDF reader. Once installed, they are all capable of stealing anything stored in Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge, including passwords and browsing history and much more. They also share common tricks, like making fake system popups that ask for your administrator password to install the program.
The Bottom Line: Check out the guide to learn to identify potentially risky behavior from a suspicious app! It's pretty technical but you don't have to understand everything. Even just the screenshots can be helpful in learning to identify potentially risky behavior from a suspicious app.
Clever New iOS Malware Strategy Searches Your Screenshots for Secrets
Researchers at Kaspersky found a malware app had made it onto the iOS and Android app stores. The app, which was disguised as a food delivery app, employs a novel technique: it asks users for permission to access their photo library. Once it has access, it uses an AI model to scan screenshots or photos of text, looking for secrets—especially recovery phrases used to regain access to a cryptocurrency wallet.
The Bottom Line: Exercise caution when new apps ask for permission to access your photos, camera, and microphone. You can review and control how much access apps have to your photos in Settings > Privacy & Security > Photos > Select an app > set to Limited Access (a popup will ask which photos you want to share every time you try to share photos in that app) or None.
How Secure Is Your Web Browser? New Technique Uses Chrome Extension to Take Over Your Whole Device
You know how you can log in to your Chrome web browser just once with your Google account and stay logged in to your Google Drive, Gmail, etc? The researchers at SquareX discovered a new hack where a mere malicious browser extension can log in to a second web browser profile, then use that to change settings on the browser to lower its security, then use that to install keystroke loggers or other malware that can lead to a complete takeover of the device.
The Bottom Line: Practice extreme caution when installing browser extensions. Treat unexpected profiles in your browser as highly suspicious. Never save your passwords in your web browser.
Viral AI Chatbot DeepSeek Was Deeply Leaking Your Data
Unsurprisingly, the genAI chatbot DeepSeek, which experienced an overnight explosion of success, was not really planning for that much success that quickly, and didn't take security as seriously as they maybe should have. Security researchers at Wiz Research have the story.
The Bottom Line: Be cautious what you tell genAI chatbots, and what you ask.
Keep Your Data out of the Wrong Hands
Data brokers buy and sell your information with just a few clicks of the mouse. Incogni gets you off those lists to cut down on spam calls, security risks, and more.
Yet Another Healthcare Provider Has Its Data Stolen
Community Health Center, a healthcare provider based in Connecticut, sent out a letter to its customers at the end of January to alert them of a data breach of more than a million people in October 2024. The breach includes data such as patient names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, treatment plans, and more. According to Newsweek, the cyberattack may have only lasted a few hours. CHC is offering its customers 24 months of credit monitoring, a $1 million insurance reimbursement policy, and assistance with recovering their identity if it's stolen.
The Bottom Line: We recommend freezing your credit. This is true regardless of whether you're a customer of CHC or not. You can always unfreeze it whenever you need. If not freezing your credit, at least employ some form of credit monitoring, possibly the free monitoring offered to customers of CHC. This data breach serves as a good reminder to always use a secure password so that if you're subjected to a breach like this, your other accounts will be safe. But, as always, remain vigilant against scammers using their knowledge of you to convince you they are legitimate authorities.
Teen Mental Health Resource Caught Sharing Data with Social Media Companies
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, AI for Families, and the New York Civil Liberties Union discovered tracking pixels on the landing page for Teenspace, an online therapy service for teens. Tracking pixels are hidden lines of code that essentially track the user's behavior, and the trackers on Teenspace were sharing their data with companies such as Meta, Google, X, and TikTok. Gizmodo reports that Teenspace collected the visitors' IP addresses but did not share any medical data with these companies. Regardless, the website has, thankfully, been scrubbed of trackers at this time.
The Bottom Line: While it's almost impossible to avoid trackers completely while browsing the web, you can limit tracking by using features like an ad blocker, a VPN, or iCloud Private Relay.
Related: Keep Your Web Browsing Activity Private
Asking Google a Tech Question? Beware of Liars and Fakes
Scammers are pushing thousands of malicious websites designed to look like Reddit or the file transfer service WeTransfer to try to trick googlers into thinking they've found an easy answer to a tech question.
The Bottom Line: Always double-check the website URL before initiating a download. Be wary of sponsored results on Google. Reddit posts have long been a fairly reliable source of answers to especially obscure tech questions, but make sure you're really on Reddit, not Reddit's evil clone with a goatee. Even on Reddit, be cautious: links may redirect to malicious sites.
Lawmakers Allege DOGE Employees Accessed and Altered National Databases without Oversight, Clearance
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote: "No information has been provided to Congress or the public as to who has been formally hired under DOGE, under what authority or regulations DOGE is operating, or how DOGE is vetting and monitoring its staff and representatives before providing them seemingly unfettered access to classified materials and Americans' personal information." Then, a US district judge issued a block on DOGE's access to federal payment systems until its employees go through the normal vetting and security clearance process.
The Bottom Line: With trillions of dollars in government spending at stake and every US citizen's personal information contained in these databases, the risks associated with a potential data leak are enormous, and the consequences could not be more serious. Nothing you do in your personal cybersecurity practice can protect you if government databases are leaked, penetrated, or mismanaged.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario