Security News

Pentagon explosion hoax goes viral after verified Twitter accounts push
2023-05-22 18:14

Highly realistic AI-generated images depicting an explosion near the Pentagon that went viral on Twitter caused the stock market to dip briefly earlier today. Tweets of this image supposedly depicting an explosion near the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, were amplified by many verified Twitter accounts, including Russian state media and a verified account impersonating the Bloomberg news agency.

Friday Squid Blogging: “Mediterranean Beef Squid” Hoax
2023-05-05 21:12

The viral video of the "Mediterranean beef squid"is a hoax. It's not even a deep fake; it's a plastic toy.

Pro-Putin scammers trick politicians and celebrities into low-tech hoax video calls
2023-03-07 10:01

Pro-Russian scammers using social engineering and impersonation to trick prominent western commentators into conducting recorded video calls have kicked these campaigns "Into high gear" over the past 12 months, according to security researchers. Once their targets bite the email lure, and agree to follow-up hoax video calls, TA499 kicks things off with a serious question or two.

S3 Ep59: Emotet, an FBI hoax, Samba bugs, and a hijackable suitcase [Podcast]
2021-11-18 19:00

Emotet malware: "The report of my death was an exaggeration" FBI email hack spreads fake security alerts Tech history: Why tubes are valves, and valves are tubes. Samba update patches plaintext password plundering The hijackable self-driving robot suitcase Oh! No! A virtual-versus-real monitor mixup.

Walmart press release hoax causes Litecoin to spike 34%
2021-09-13 15:35

A fake Walmart press release stating that the retail chain would begin accepting Litecoin caused the cryptocurrency to jump by almost 35% this morning. The fake Walmart press release [archive] was released this morning at 9:30 AM and included made-up quotes from Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee about the partnership.

“Instant bank fraud” hoax is back – don’t spread fake news!
2020-11-11 19:31

Typing in your login data on the fake site exposes your credentials to the crooks because your password is sent to them instead of to your real mobile phone provider. As you can see from the list above, it's theoretically possible that getting your mobile phone account password hacked might give the crooks a way in to your bank account too, especially if you used the same password on your banking site as elsewhere.

“Instant bank fraud” warning spread on WhatsApp is a hoax
2020-03-31 08:25

Last week we wrote about a WhatsApp hoax that was spreading widely, warning people to look out for a cybersecurity catastrophe that simply wasn't going to happen. The City of London Police in turn link you to UK National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre's ActionFraud website, where you will see that the "City of London Police hasn't issued any alerts about fake messages from Danske Bank.".

WhatsApp “Martinelli” hoax is back, warning about “Dance of the Pope”
2020-03-23 17:49

An IT colleague has advised that a video comes out tomorrow from WhatsApp called martinelli do not open it , it hacks your phone and nothing will fix it. If you receive a message to update the WhatsApp to WhatsApp Gold, do not click!!!!!

Another Facebook hoax: Robbers still throwing eggs at car windows?
2019-11-08 11:25

Bandits? Egg hurling?! Up to 92.5% visibility obscured??!! Don't share this turkey, but do let us know if you decide to test your wipers!