Tag Archive for: Logins

Windows malware can steal social media credentials and banking logins

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Many pieces of personal information are valuable to hackers and scammers. Your Social Security number can spell lots of trouble in the wrong hands. Your credit card and banking information is highly sought after, too, as criminals can drain your account in seconds.

But one of the most lucrative data points for any cybercriminal is your social media details. By hacking into your account, criminals can spread malware to your contacts, trick them out of money and use it for other illegal activities.

Now, criminals are targeting your Windows PC. Read on for details and ways to stay protected.

Here’s the backstory

While old malware is often recycled into updated versions, hackers constantly create new methods to steal details and information. Security researchers at Zscaler recently made such a discovery, calling the new malware Win32.PWS.FFDroider.

The malware creates a registry entry in Windows-based computers to steal login credentials and internet browser cookies. The research team noted that the FFDroider malware spreads through illegal copies of Study Math Live and other freeware installers.

Zscaler was able to determine that FFDroider can:

  • Steal your browser cookies and send them to a central server.
  • Read through your cookies, looking for social media login credentials.
  • Access the safelists rules in Windows to make copies of itself.

The latest threats don’t stop there. Another malware variant feature is infiltrating your social media accounts and using your Facebook Ads Manager details for malicious advertising or stealing your banking information. Hackers can also tunnel through Instagram to extract personal data.

FFDroider disguises itself as the hugely popular chatting application Telegram to avoid detection.

While it’s not new, another malware variant is spreading at an alarming pace. Microsoft recently put measures in place to prevent the dangerous Qbot malware from replicating through Microsoft Office files.

Hackers are now adapting the malware to spread through MSI Windows Installer packages. Once installed,…

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BPUB customer concerned about ransomware, sees foreign logins to email

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BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Customers with the Brownsville Public Utility Board (BPUB) are growing concerned following the news of a ransomware attack, and one customer said she believes she is being affected by it.

A Brownsville PUB customer, that wishes to remain anonymous, reached out to ValleyCentral about texts and calls from unknown numbers asking to confirm her identity.

“I saw it and I thought nothing of it until I remembered that I saw your report on the news,” said the customer.

She said she believes the ransomware hack is related to what she experienced this week.

This customer added that she also noticed a foreign login to her email account from Moscow, Russia.

“I pay my parents’ account through my account. It has never happened before I’ve never had an issue,” said the customer. “So, I just started freaking out since then.”

However, the BPUB does not believe the ransomware attack is linked to what she is experiencing.

The BPUB says they still have an ongoing investigation and they can’t release too much of the details just yet. According to the ransomware website ‘Lockbit,’ the BPUB has until Monday to pay the ransom or information could be leaked.

Screenshot of LockBit’s website

“One of the things that we’re trying to find out, is what files if any were compromised,” said Ryan Greenfeld, the communications and public relations manager at BPUB.

Greenfeld did not specify whether BPUB would pay the ransom or not.

“Right now, our goals are to remove any infections from our systems, make sure all viruses are cleaned, and to make sure all internal data and functionality is restored,” said Greenfeld.

To better protect your information online:

  • Use two-step authentication
  • Do not open suspicious emails
  • Do not click on unknown URL links
  • Change your password every few months

ValleyCentral will continue following this developing story.

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How to Use a Free Password Manager—and Make Your Logins Safer

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Some of my old usernames and passwords are floating around the internet, and maybe yours are, too.

After repeated notices of data breaches at websites, some I haven’t visited in years, I decided to get serious and use a password manager to create unique, unguessable passwords for each of my accounts. They’re so complex I don’t know what most of them are.

To find out if your credentials are exposed, plug your email address into Haveibeenpwned.com, a website by security expert Troy Hunt, to reveal which breaches contained your data. It doesn’t ask for your passwords (and you shouldn’t give them out to random sites anyway!).

Hackers commonly employ an attack called “credential stuffing”: They take usernames and passwords leaked from one breach and enter them at other sites in the hope that people reused them.

This is why security experts always say don’t reuse passwords, especially those for important logins like your bank, your email and your work accounts. But it also means you’ll quickly end up with more passwords than you can remember.

A full-featured password manager is a good idea, but setting one up can be time-consuming, intimidating and sometimes costly. So, as someone who’s gone through the process for myself and several family members, I am recommending cybersecurity newbies start with the fast, free versions baked into the smartphones and browsers they already use.

The Best Password Manager for You

A good password manager:

• Creates strong passwords

• Stores login credentials

• Autofills usernames and passwords

• Protects your data

• Lets you export credentials if you want to switch managers

I generally recommend independent services such as Dashlane and 1Password, because those apps work better across different platforms and have more features. However, a good fit for less tech-savvy folks are

Apple’s


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iCloud Keychain and

Google’s


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Password Manager. They’re free, there’s nothing to download, and they are integrated with software people already use. Plus, they can generate new passwords and send…

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Google Play Apps Found to Have Trojans That Steal Facebook Logins and Passwords

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Nine Google Play apps have been found to have trojans in them that steal their users’ Facebook logins and passwords. 

This is according to the malware analysts of Dr. Web, an anti-virus software company. The discovery has been posted on Dr. Web’s official website.

Per Dr. Web, the findings of their analysts have already been reported to Google, but only some apps have been removed from Google Play. “At the time of this news release, some apps were still available for download,” according to the statement.  

Google Play Apps Stealing Facebook Logins and Passwords

Google Play

(Photo: Google Play Store)

Google Play hosted nine of the ten malicious apps found to have been stealing Facebook logins and passwords prior to being informed by Dr. Web. These malicious apps are:

App Lock Keep – Downloaded at least 50,000 times and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

App Lock Manager – Downloaded at least 10,000 times and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

Horoscope Daily – Published by developer HscopeDaily momo and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13. App has been installed more than 100,000 times

Horoscope Pi – Has more than 1,000 installs and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

Inwell Fitness – A fitness app with more than 100,000 installs and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.14

Lockit Master – Downloaded at least 5,000 times and detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

PIP Photo – An image editing app that has over 5 million installs. Android.PWS.Facebook.17 and Android.PWS.Facebook.18 have been detected in the app.

Processing Photo – A photo-editing software installed over 500,000 times detected by Dr. Web as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

Rubbish Cleaner – An app meant to optimize Android performance that has been downloaded more than 100,000 and has been detected as Android.PWS.Facebook.13

A tenth app discovered to have the Trojan, EditorPhotoPip, was not available on Google Play.

How the Apps Steal Facebook Logins and Passwords

Hacker

(Photo : Sora Shimazaki from Pexels)

According to a report by Ars Technica, these malicious apps appear as fully functioning applications and offer “users an option to disable in-app ads by logging into their Facebook accounts.” Users are…

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