It’s the romance scam story that plays out like a segment on a true crime show. It starts with a budding relationship formed on an online dating site. It ends with an ominous note and an abandoned car on a riverside boat ramp hundreds of miles away from the victim’s home.  The story that follows offers a look at how far romance scams can go. With that, we warn you that this story comes to a grim ending. We share it to show just how high the stakes can get in these scams and how cunning the scammers who run them can be.   Most importantly, it gives us an opportunity to show how ..read more

You consider yourself a responsible person when it comes to taking care of your physical possessions. You’ve never left your wallet in a taxi or lost an expensive ring down the drain. You never let your smartphone out of your sight, yet one day you notice it’s acting oddly.   Did you know that your device can fall into cybercriminals’ hands without ever leaving yours? SIM swapping is a method that allows criminals to take control of your smartphone and break into your online accounts.  Don’t worry: there are a few easy step ..read more

According to reports from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel database, text message scams swindled $372 million from Americans in 2023 alone. The staggering figure highlights a growing concern for consumers globally, who increasingly interact with brands and service providers via text, email, and even social media. As our reliance on technology continues, it is important for everyone to understand how to spot scam texts amid the real messages they receive.  amid the real messages they receive. With such frequent communication from brands and organizations, you can be hard-p ..read more

We’ve said it several times in our blogs — it’s tough knowing what’s real and what’s fake out there. And that’s absolutely the case with AI audio deepfakes online.  Bad actors of all stripes have found out just how easy, inexpensive, and downright uncanny AI audio deepfakes can be. With only a few minutes of original audio, seconds even, they can cook up phony audio that sounds like the genuine article — and wreak all kinds of havoc with it.  A few high-profile cases in point, each politically motivated in an election year where the world will see more than 60 national elections:&nb ..read more

Is it real? Is it fake?  Deepfake technology has certainly made everything far more complicated online. How do you know for sure what’s real? Can you actually trust anything anymore? Recently, a Hong Kong company lost A$40 million in a deepfake scam after an employee transferred money following a video call with a scammer who looked like his boss! Even Oprah and Taylor have been affected by deepfake scammers using them to promote dodgy online schemes. So, how do we get our heads around it, and just as importantly, how do we help our kids understand it? Don’t stress – I got you. Here’s wh ..read more

A new packed variant of the Redline Stealer trojan was observed in the wild, leveraging Lua bytecode to perform malicious behavior. McAfee telemetry data shows this malware strain is very prevalent, covering North America, South America, Europe, and Asia and reaching Australia. Infection Chain   GitHub is being abused to host the malware file at Microsoft’s official account in the vcpkg repository https[:]//github[.]com/microsoft/vcpkg/files/14125503/Cheat.Lab.2.7.2.zip McAfee Web Advisor blocks access to this malicious download Cheat.Lab.2.7.2.zip is a zip file with hash 5e37b32890 ..read more

Imagine receiving a call from a loved one, only to discover it’s not them but a convincing replica created by voice cloning technology. This scenario might sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but it became a chilling reality for a Brooklyn couple featured in a New Yorker article who thought their loved ones were being held for ransom. The perpetrators used voice cloning to extort money from the couple as they feared for the lives of the husband’s parents.   Their experience is a stark reminder of the growing threat of voice cloning attacks and the importance of safeguarding ..read more

‘Ensure your privacy settings are set to the highest level’ – if you’ve been reading my posts for a bit then you’ll know this is one of my top online safety tips. I’m a fan of ensuring that what you (and your kids) share online is limited to only the eyes that you trust. But let’s talk honestly. When was the last time you checked that your privacy settings were nice and tight? And what about your kids? While we all like to think they take our advice, do you think they have? Or it is all a bit complicated?  ‘We Don’t Want To Share Everything with Everybody’  Research from McAfee conf ..read more

In recent news, Roku, a leading streaming platform, reported that over 591,000 user accounts were affected by credential stuffing attacks. This incident underscores the critical importance of safeguarding your online accounts against cyber threats. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself and your streaming accounts.   As a proactive security measure, Roku has reset the passwords for all affected accounts. It is also notifying customers about the data leak and is refunding or reversing charges for those with unauthorized charges made by cybercriminals.  Understanding Cr ..read more

Some conversations on social media can get … heated. Some can cross the line into harassment. Or worse.  Harassment on social media has seen an unfortunate rise in recent years. Despite platforms putting in reporting mechanisms, policies, and even using AI to detect and remove harmful speech, people are seeing more and more harassment on social media.  Yet even as it becomes more prevalent, nothing about it is usually. Or acceptable. No, you can’t prevent social media harassment. Yet you can protect yourself in the face of these attacks.  Online harassment statistics continue t ..read more