The Malware tag covers malware families, infrastructure analysis, incident impact, disruption efforts, and defensive guidance to reduce cybersecurity risk.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Malware is software intentionally created or modified to perform unauthorized or harmful actions on a computer, device, or network. The term covers distinct families and functions, including viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, botnet clients, and ransomware; a single sample may combine several capabilities. Its behavior—not its label—determines the security concern: it may execute code, persist, alter or encrypt data, steal credentials, or provide unauthorized remote access.
For practitioners, malware reporting is most useful when it identifies the family or tool conservatively and provides evidence such as affected platforms, samples, infrastructure, or observed behavior. Defenses include promptly patching vulnerable software, restricting execution and privileges, monitoring endpoints and networks, maintaining tested backups, and isolating suspected systems for analysis. Detection should use behavior and verified indicators rather than names alone, since variants change. If malware processes personal or regulated data, investigations should also address privacy, evidence preservation, and applicable reporting obligations.
Security researchers are warning of an Android malware named SMSFactory that adds unwanted costs to the phone bill by subscribing victims to premium services. [...]
A Chinese-speaking hacking group known as LuoYu is infecting victims WinDealer information stealer malware deployed by switching legitimate app updates with malicious payloads in man-on-the-side attacks. [...]
Threat analysts have discovered a large operation of a new cryptocurrency mining malware called Clipminer that brought its operators at least $1.7 million from transaction hijacking. [...]
A new Windows Search zero-day vulnerability can be used to automatically open a search window containing remotely-hosted malware executables simply by launching a Word document. [...]
Europol has announced the takedown of the FluBot operation, one of the largest and fastest-growing Android malware operations in existence. [...]
Threat analysts have spotted a new version of the XLoader botnet malware that uses probability theory to hide its command and control servers, making it difficult to disrupt the malware's operation. [...]
Interpol has announced the arrest of three Nigerian men in Lagos, who are suspected of using remote access trojans (RATs) to reroute financial transactions and steal account credentials. [...]
Security researchers have discovered a new Microsoft Office zero-day vulnerability that is currently exploited in phishing attacks to install malware on devices simply by opening a Word document. [...]
EnemyBot, a botnet based on code from multiple malware pieces, is expanding its reach by quickly adding exploits for recently disclosed critical vulnerabilities in web servers, content management systems, IoT, and Android devices. [...]
EnemyBot, a botnet based on code from multiple malware pieces, is expanding its reach by quickly adding exploits for recently disclosed critical vulnerabilities in web servers, content management systems, IoT, and Android devices. [...]
Kaspersky's quarterly report on mobile malware distribution records a downward trend that started at the end of 2020, detecting one-third of the malicious installations reported in Q1 2021, and about 85% of those counted in Q4 2021. [...]