Malwarebytes Browser Guard has a cool new feature to protect you against search hijacking.

Search hijacking, often referred to as browser hijacking, occurs when cybercriminals modify users’ browser settings without their consent. This often results in users being redirected to potentially malicious websites, such as fake customer service offerings.  

Search hijacking commonly happens through free downloads, bundled software, or fake browser extensions that pose as helpful tools.  

These attacks can be very stealthy and often go unnoticed until the victim sees unexpected changes in their browsing activity. 

Hijacking attacks may involve adding fraudulent toolbars, redirecting users to websites that steal personal information, or installing ransomware on victims’ devices, forcing them to pay a ransom to regain access.  

Malwarebytes Browser Guard already protects your browser by blocking malicious websites, credit card skimmers, and trackers. Now, it will actively monitor your search results for unauthorized modifications and alert you to potential scams, providing an essential layer of additional protection.  

**Add Malwarebytes Browser Guard to your favorite browser for free.** **Try it now**

 Take back control of your browser—Malwarebytes Browser Guard now blocks search hijacking attempts  

A man is facing a $450,000 AU fine after he published deepfake images of prominent Australian women on the now-defunct MrDeepfakes web site.

A man is facing a $450,000 AU fine after he published deepfake images of prominent Australian women on the now-defunct MrDeepfakes web site. That’s if Australia’s online safety regulator gets its way.

Anthony Rotondo faces charges of posting these and other explicit deepfake images to the MrDeepfakes website, which closed down earlier this month.

According to a court order approving an arrest warrant for him in October 2023, the 55 year-old posted pictures of the Australian public figures online but when the country’s eSafety Commissioner—which regulates online safety—asked him to take them down in May 2023, he responded:

> “I am not a resident of Australia. The removal notice means nothing to me. Get an arrest warrant if you think you are right.”

Rotondo, who lived in the Philippines, traveled to Australia on October 10, 2023, apparently to attend a car race on the Gold Coast. On October 20, the Office of the ESafety Commissioner got an injunction against him in Australian Federal Court, asking him to take down the images. Instead, he sent another deepfake image to media outlets and to the eSafety Commissioner’s office. The police arrested him at an apartment in Brisbane, Queensland, a few days later.

Once in custody, Rotondo gave police his access credentials to the website, enabling them to take the images down. However, a federal judge fined him $25,000 for contempt of court. He was also charged with six counts of obscene publication, one of which involved a minor. The court added another charge of endangering property by fire.

The eSafety Commissioner is now pushing for a fine of $450,000 over the obscenity charges.

**What is a deepfake?**

A deepfake is an image of a person produced using AI. Today it’s most commonly used to project an existing person’s likeness onto someone else’s image or video. Some include just photos, while others consist of video and audio. Audio-only deepfakes are also used to impersonate others’ voices.

Deepfake technology can be used for good, such as rekindling someone’s voice after they lose the ability to speak. There have also been some imaginative uses, such as the representation of a murder victim as a deepfake who gave an impact statement in court. Some have explored using the technology to animate the images of deceased loved ones.

However, many uses of deepfakes are less savory. Scammers use deepfake videos of popular public figures to lure victims into fraudulent investments, and deepfake voice recordings to fool family members into thinking their loved one has been involved in an accident or arrested. Deepfake porn, in which a victim’s likeness is projected onto explicit images or video, is now a scourge, and deepfake child sex abuse material is also on the rise.

As Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a testimony to the country’s senate last July:

> “The harms caused by image-based abuse have been consistently reported. They include negative impacts on mental health and career prospects, as well as social withdrawal and interpersonal difficulties.”

She continued:

> “Victim-survivors have also described how their experiences of image-based abuse radically disrupted their lives, altering their sense of self, identity and their relationships with their bodies and with others.”

The following month, politicians passed an amendment to the country’s Criminal Code that introduced new penalties for sharing such content.

However, politicians have also been a hindrance. The Liberal National Party in Queensland posted a nonsexual deepfake of the state’s premier, Steven Miles, in a negative political campaign.

MrDeepfakes was the largest deepfake site in the world. It hosted at least 43,000 deepfake pictures of 3,800 people, most of whom were female musicians or actors. The site’s creators took it down early this month, citing data loss, and stating that they would not be resurrecting it.

**How to protect yourself**

The National Cybersecurity Alliance offers advice on protecting yourself against deepfakes, and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative offers resources for those who have been targeted.

If you’re in the UK, the Revenge Porn helpline helps support those targeted by image abuse.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

 Deepfake-posting man faces huge $450,000 fine 

A man is facing a $450,000 AU fine after he published deepfake images of prominent Australian women on the now-defunct MrDeepfakes...

Cybercriminals are using text-to-video-AI tools to lure victims to fake websites that deliver malware like infostealers and Trojans.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the public’s interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and delivering malware via text-to-video tools.

According to researchers at Mandiant, the criminals are setting up websites claiming to offer “AI video generator” services, and then using those fake tools to distribute information stealers, Trojans, and backdoors.

Links to the malicious websites were brought to the researchers’ attention by ads and links in comments on social media platforms. The researchers uncovered thousands of malicious ads on Facebook and LinkedIn—beginning in November 2024—that promote fake AI video generator tools such as “Luma AI,” “Canva Dream Lab,” and “Kling AI.”

To avoid detection, the group constantly rotates the domain used in the ads and creates new ads every day, while using both compromised and newly created accounts. The campaign operates through more than 30 websites that imitate popular legitimate AI tools.

Researchers identified the first payload as the Starkveil dropper (detected by Malwarebytes/ThreatDown) classified as Trojan.Crypt. The Trojan, written in Rust, requires users to run it twice to fully compromise their machines. After the first run, the malware displays an error window to trick victims into executing it again.

The dropper then deploys the XWorm (detected as Backdoor.XWorm) and Frostrift (detected as Trojan.Crypt) backdoors and the GRIMPULL downloader (also detected as Trojan.Crypt).

After it has fully compromised the system, this constellation of malware will harvest all kinds of data from the infected devices and send it to the cybercriminals using various methods of communication. For a full technical analysis of the malware, feel free to read the researchers’ report.

The researchers stated:

> “The temptation to try the latest AI tool can lead to anyone becoming a victim.”

So, it’s important to be aware of these campaigns and adopt ways to recognize and thwart them.

*   Be vigilant. Posts or ads with high numbers of views that promise free AI text-to-video tools are a red flag and should be examined carefully, especially if they prompt downloads of executable files, which could be disguised as videos.
*   Don’t trust unsolicited messages or ads promising unbelievable AI tools or free trials, especially if they pressure you to act quickly or provide personal information.
*   Run up-to-date and active protection to intercept these malware infections in the early stages, as well as detect and remove infostealer malware.
*   Use web protection in your browser that can recognize and block scams and malicious websites.
*   Don’t click on sponsored search results. Any other method to find a link to your coveted product is preferable over sponsored results, since criminals have demonstrated that it pays off to outbid the rightful owners.
*   Look out for ads with too-good-to-be-true offers, urgent deadlines, or unusual payment methods like cryptocurrency or wire transfers.
*   Scrutinize the provided URLs which might be constructed to look like the “real thing” but they might not be.
*   Only download AI software or tools from official, trusted sources or verified app stores.

For more actionable advice on how to spot scams, join our Facebook Live on June 3.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

 Fake AI video generator tools lure in Facebook and LinkedIn users to deliver malware 

A renewed warning about toll fee scams has gone out. This time it comes from the DMVs of several US states.

Over a year ago the FBI warned about what was then a new form of smishing (phishing via SMS) scam: text messages that demanded payment for toll fees.

The FTC sent out a similar warning in January, 2025. Then, in April another wave of toll fee scams began doing the rounds.

Now the Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) of New York, Florida, and California are warning residents not to fall for the text message scams that try to trick users into clicking a link by telling them they owe a “small amount” in toll fees.

The amount of smishing messages is a major problem. Reportedly, in April of 2025 alone, Americans received 19.2 billion automated spam texts which amounts to roughly 63 spam texts for every single person in the country.

And it seems to be paying off for the cybercriminals involved in fraud. The FTC’s 2024 Annual Data Book shows that 16% of the reported fraud attempts were text-based, with a criminal revenue of some $470 Million.

**How to avoid falling for toll fee scams**

*   Check the phone number that the text message comes from. Some of the scams we saw were easy to dismiss because they came from telephone numbers outside the US.
*   Look for the actual site that handles the alleged toll fees and compare the domain name. Sometimes there is only a small difference, so inspect it carefully.
*   If you decided to pay, make sure you receive confirmation of payment. Official toll agencies will send confirmation after collecting payments. If you don’t receive that, call the toll service to check.
*   Try never to interact with the scammer in any way. Every reaction provides them with information, even if it’s only that the phone number is in use.
*   If you think the toll fee is feasible because you have indeed travelled in that area, check on the official toll service’s website or call their customer service number.
*   Malwarebytes Mobile Security for Android includes a “Text Protection” feature that alerts users about potentially fraudulent or phishing text messages, helping to prevent scams and other online threats. This feature scans incoming text messages for suspicious content, such as malicious links or suspicious phrases, and warns the user to be cautious. 
*   On Malwarebytes Mobile Security for iOS, our text filtering feature scans incoming messages for suspicious content—such as malicious links—and automatically moves them to your Junk folder before you have a chance to interact with them by mistake.
*   The FBI asks that if you receive a suspicious message, contact the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Be sure to include the phone number from where the text originated, and the website listed within the text.

**We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

 New warning issued over toll fee scams 

A huge dataset with all kinds of sensitive information, likely to be the result of infostealers, has been found unsecured online.

A recent discovery by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler of an unsecured database containing over 184 million unique login credentials has once again highlighted the growing threat posed by infostealers. While the sheer volume of exposed data—including emails, passwords, and authorization URLs—is alarming, the real concern is not just about the exposure itself, but in how cybercriminals collect and weaponize these credentials.

This trove of data from a wide range of services like email providers, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, and many more, doesn’t appear to have been leaked by accident by someone who obtained the data legitimately. More likely, it was amassed by infostealers—malicious software (malware) that are designed specifically to gather sensitive information from infected devices. These malware variants silently extract credentials stored in browsers, email clients, messaging apps, and even crypto wallets. They often arrive via phishing emails, malicious websites, or bundled with cracked software.

An infamous example of an infostealer is the Lumma Stealer, which recently suffered a serious disruption of its infrastructure by authorities. Unfortunately, there are several others which may not be as widespread as Lumma, but at least at the same level of sophistication.

What this means is that the exposed credentials are likely just a fraction of what cybercriminals have already harvested from likely millions of victims worldwide. Each infected device can yield dozens or hundreds of credential sets, multiplying the scale of the problem far beyond a single breach. If a criminal can tie all these different types of stolen information to one person, like the operator of an infostealer would, it would be easy to use those details for identity theft.

The database has since been removed from public view.

**How many people are affected?**

Given the volume of credentials found, it’s reasonable to assume that millions of individuals had their data included in the exposed database. Since one infected system can leak multiple credentials tied to different accounts and services, the number of victims is likely far smaller than the number of exposed credentials but still alarmingly high.

Infostealers have evolved beyond simple password grabbers. Modern variants can capture autofill data, cookies, screenshots, and keystrokes, giving attackers a comprehensive toolkit to bypass security measures and launch sophisticated attacks. The stolen credentials fuel credential stuffing attacks (where an attacker uses reused logins stolen from one service to access another), account takeovers, identity theft, corporate espionage, and targeted phishing campaigns.

The fact that these credentials span a wide range of services, from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to financial institutions, healthcare portals, and even government accounts shows how pervasive infostealer infections have become, enabling attackers to build detailed profiles of victims’ digital lives.

**What you can do**

There is no way to tell whether anyone else found the exposed database before it was removed from public access. However, the exposure of such a massive dataset should serve as a wake-up call. While the breach itself may no longer be the immediate threat, infostealer malware remains an ongoing and growing threat. Here are some practical steps to protect yourself:

*   Change your passwords regularly, and don’t reuse them across multiple accounts. Use unique, complex passwords for every service.
*   Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible. This makes it harder for criminals to take over your account.
*   Regularly audit and clean your email inbox of sensitive documents and old passwords. Jeremiah pointed out that “people unknowingly treat their email accounts like free cloud storage and keep years’ worth of sensitive documents, such as tax forms, medical records, contracts, and passwords without considering how sensitive they are.”
*   Use an up-to-date and active anti-malware solution  that can detect and remove infostealer malware.
*   Be careful about what you download and educate yourself on recognizing phishing emails, as these remain the most common infection vectors.

Given the scale and sophistication of infostealer operations, it’s not enough to wait for breach notifications to find out whether your credentials have been compromised. That’s why proactive monitoring is essential.

You can use Malwarebytes’ free Digital Footprint Portal to see if any of your data has been stolen by an infostealer and exposed online. We have many millions of stolen records in our database that stem from Lumma stealers alone and are being traded on the dark web. Just put in the email address you use the most, and we’ll tell you what information is out there about you.

Don’t wait for a data breach to impact you. Check your digital footprint and stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

 184 million logins for Instagram, Roblox, Facebook, Snapchat, and more exposed online 

A list of topics we covered in the week of May 19 to May 25 of 2025

May 22, 2025 - The Lumma infostealer infrastructure has suffered a serious blow by a coordinated action of the DOJ and Microsoft.

May 22, 2025 - A stalkerware company that recently leaked millions of users' personal information online has taken all of its assets offline without any explanation.

May 22, 2025 - Cybercriminals are using AI-based tools to generate voice clones of the voices of senior US officials in order to scam people.

May 20, 2025 - The bankrupt 23andMe, along with all of its genetic data, has been bought by US drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

May 20, 2025 - You'd hope that spending $6,000 on a printer would give you a secure experience, free from viruses and other malware. However, in the case of Procolored printers, you'd be wrong.

 A week in security (May 19 &#8211; May 25) 

The Lumma infostealer infrastructure has suffered a serious blow by a coordinated action of the DOJ and Microsoft.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Microsoft have disrupted the infrastructure of the Lumma information stealer (infostealer).

Lumma Stealer, also known as LummaC or LummaC2, first emerged in late 2022 and quickly established itself as one of the most prolific infostealers. Infostealers is the name we use for a group of malware that collects sensitive information from infected devices and sends the data to an operator. Depending on the type of infostealer and the goals of the operator, infostealers can be interested in taking anything from usernames and passwords to credit card details, and cryptocurrency wallets.

Lumma operates under a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) model, meaning its creators sell access to the malware on underground marketplaces and platforms like Telegram. This model allows hundreds of cybercriminals worldwide to deploy Lumma for their own malicious campaigns.

What makes Lumma particularly dangerous is its wide range of targets and its evolving sophistication. It doesn’t just grab browser-stored passwords or cookies. It’s also capable of extracting autofill data, email credentials, FTP client data, and even two-factor authentication tokens and backup codes, which enables attackers to bypass additional security layers.

As Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division put it:

> “Malware like LummaC2 is deployed to steal sensitive information such as user login credentials from millions of victims in order to facilitate a host of crimes, including fraudulent bank transfers and cryptocurrency theft.”

Over the last few months alone, Microsoft identified over 394,000 Windows computers infected with Lumma worldwide. The FBI estimates that Lumma has been involved in around 10 million infections globally.

Using a court order from the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Microsoft’s DCU seized and facilitated a takedown, suspension, and blocking of approximately 2,300 malicious domains that were part of the infostealer’s backbone.

Most of the seized domains served as user panels, where Lumma customers are able to access and deploy the infostealer, so this will stop the criminals from being able to to access Lumma in order to compromise computers and steal victim information.

Government agencies and researchers sometimes alter DNS addresses to lead the traffic to their own servers (called sinkholes). By redirecting the seized domains to Microsoft-controlled sinkholes, investigators can now monitor ongoing attacks and provide intelligence to help defend against similar threats in the future. This takedown slows down cybercriminals, disrupts their revenue streams, and buys time and knowledge for defenders to strengthen security.

**How to protect yourself**

Even with the Lumma infrastructure disrupted, the threat of information stealers remains very real and evolving. Here are some practical steps to reduce your risk:

*   **Use strong, unique passwords** for every account and consider a reputable password manager to keep track of them.
*   **Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)** wherever possible. Although Lumma tries to bypass 2FA, having it still adds a crucial layer of defense.
*   **Be cautious with emails and downloads.** Lumma often spreads through phishing emails and malicious downloads, sometimes disguised as legitimate CAPTCHAs or antivirus software.
*   **Keep your software and operating system updated** to patch vulnerabilities that malware can exploit.
*   **Regularly monitor your financial and online accounts** for suspicious activity.
*   **Educate yourself about phishing and social engineering tactics** to avoid falling victim to trickery.
*   **Use an up-to-date real-time anti-malware solution** to block install attempts and detect active information stealers.

By understanding how threats like Lumma operate and by taking the necessary steps to protect ourselves, we can reduce the risk of falling prey to these invisible thieves.

You can use Malwarebytes’ free Digital Footprint Portal to see if any of your data has been stolen by a Lumma infostealer. We have many millions of stolen records stemming from Lumma stealers that are being traded on the Dark Web in our database.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

 Lumma information stealer infrastructure disrupted 

A stalkerware company that recently leaked millions of users' personal information online has taken all of its assets offline without any explanation.

A stalkerware company that recently leaked millions of users’ personal information online has taken all of its assets offline without any explanation. Now Malwarebytes has learned that the company has taken down other apps too.

Back in February, news emerged of a stalkerware app compromise. Reporters at Techcrunch revealed a vulnerability in three such apps: Spyzie, Cocospy, and Spyic. The flaw exposed data from the victim’s devices, rendering their messages, photos, and location data visible to whomever wanted them. It also gave up approximately 3.2 million email addresses entered by the customers that bought and installed these apps on their targets’ devices.

The bug was so easy to exploit that Techcrunch and the researcher involved wouldn’t divulge it, to protect the compromised details.

Now, the apps have gone dark. Techcrunch revealed that the software has stopped working, and the websites advertising it have disappeared. The spyware’s Amazon Web Services storage has also been deleted. The publication speculated that the apps, which were branded separately but looked nearly identical, were possibly shut down to avoid legal repercussions over the data leak.

Stalkerware apps are designed to hide themselves once installed on a person’s phone. They collect data including the location of the device, messages sent by the user, and their contacts.

Spyzie’s web site, now no longer available, marketed the software as a tool to keep an eye on your kids. It advertised itself as “100% hidden and invisible so you never get caught”. It also offered to collect their browser history, WhatsApp messages (including deleted ones), Facebook messages, and call logs. Spyzie claimed to have over a million users in more than 190 countries.

These aren’t the only three apps that the same organization took down. According to archived records of the Spyzie site, it was operated by FamiSoft Limited. That company also produced another app targeting kids called Teensafe (its website is also now down). Other apps now taken down that the company claimed to have operated include Spyier, Neatspy, Fonemonitor, Spyine, and Minspy.

Stalkerware is typically installed by those with direct access to a user’s phone or computer, and typically doesn’t need you to root or jailbreak the device. Spyzie targeted both Android and iPhone platforms. While frequently marketed as a way to keep children safe, theses are also frequently used by abusive partners or ex-partners, as explained by the Federal Trade Commission. The Coalition against Stalkerware, of which Malwabytes is a founding member, offers advice on what to do if you’re being targeted by a stalker.

There have been several instances over the years of stalkerware apps leaking data. It’s especially pernicious because in many cases it isn’t just the email addresses of the stalkerware’s customers that is compromised; it’s the personal details of the people whose phones are being spied upon.

Those people may often not be aware that they’re being surveilled, or might have been forced to install the software against their wishes. They are victimized twice: once when an individual invades their privacy, and twice when crummy infrastructure exposes their information more widely. If a customer really is using such software as a way of protecting their children, they might want to reconsider their choices.

Are you a victim of domestic abuse, or are you worried that someone else is? If you’re in the US, you can contact the National Domestic Abuse Hotline. If you’re in the UK, the government has a useful resource page to help victims and the charity Refuge operates a hotline.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

 Stalkerware apps go dark after data breach 

Cybercriminals are using AI-based tools to generate voice clones of the voices of senior US officials in order to scam people.

The FBI has issued a warning about an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign that impersonates senior US officials.

The targets are predominantly current or former US federal or state government officials and their contacts. In the course of this campaign, the cybercriminals have used test messages as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated voice messages.

After establishing contact, the criminals often send targets a malicious link which the sender claims will take the conversation to a different platform. On this messaging platform, the attacker may push malware or introduce hyperlinks that direct targets to a site under the criminals’ control in order to steal login information, like user names and passwords.

The AI-generated audio used in the vishing campaign is designed to impersonate public figures or a target’s friends or family to increase the believability of the malicious schemes. A vishing attack is a type of phishing attack in which a threat actor uses social engineering tactics via voice communication to scam a target—the word “vishing” is a combination of “voice” and “phishing.”

Due to the rapid developments in AI, vishing attacks are becoming more common and more convincing. We have seen reports about callers pretending to be employers, family, and now government officials. What they have in common is that they are after information they can use to steal money or sensitive information from the victim.

**How to stay safe**

Because these campaigns are very sophisticated and targeted, it’s important to stay vigilant. Some recommendations:

*   Independently verify the identity of the person contacting you, via a different method.
*   Carefully examine the origin of the message. The criminals typically use software to generate phone numbers that are not attributed to a specific mobile phone or subscriber.
*   Listen closely to the tone and word choice of the caller. Do they match those of the person allegedly calling you? And pay attention to any kind of voice call lag time.
*   AI-generated content has advanced to the point that it is often difficult to identify. When in doubt about the authenticity of someone wishing to communicate with you, contact your relevant security officials or the FBI for help.

If you believe you have been the victim of the campaign described above, contact your relevant security officials and report the incident to your local FBI Field Office or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov. Be sure to include as much detailed information as possible.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

Source

Malwarebytes