A week in security (January 25 – January 31)

January 28 was Data Privacy Day, but for Malwarebytes Labs, it was Data Privacy Week. As such, we’re packed with more privacy coverage than you can shake a stick at, starting with some practical steps on how to make your online life private and secure, and why privacy is core to a safer internet. We also covered news on Grindr facing a huge GDPR fine due to privacy concerns and Google’s new privacy-friendly technology called FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) that could replace cookies in cross-site ad trackers.

To cap the week off, we invited a panel of experts from Mozilla, DuckDuckGo, and EFF to talk about Internet users’ experiences with the internet and online privacy, in a special episode of the Lock & Code podcast.

Lastly, we touched on DDoS attacks spawned by the abuse of RDP, the mighty take down of the Emotet botnet, and the Emotet update written by law enforcement that’s meant to remove it from infected computers.

Other cybersecurity news

• Serco, the company behind the UK’s Test and Trace app, was hit by the Babuk ransomware. (Source: Sky News)
• In another win for the good guys, a Canadian national was charged in relation to the NetWalker ransomware. (Source: Threatpost)
• The state of Utah has introduced legislation to make “catfishing” a criminal offense. (Source: Threatpost)
• After being disrupted by cybersecurity companies before 2020 ended, Trickbot is back with fresh phishing campaigns. (Source: ZDNet)
• A new Microsoft Office 365 phishing campaign homed in on executives. (Source: Help Net Security)
• An “NHS Coronavirus vaccination program” scam was found making rounds. (Source: Belfast Live)
• Instagram scams—yikes! (Source: The Daily Express)
• According to a report, phishing links targeted at Steam players rose by 250 percent, between November and December 2020. (Source: TechRadar)

Stay safe, everyone!

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