One of our analysts recently identified a new Mal.Metrica redirect scam on compromised websites, but one that requires a little bit of effort on the part of the victim. It’s another lesson for web users to be careful what they Continue reading Mal.Metrica Redirects Users to Scam Sites
Last August we documented a malware campaign that was injecting malicious JavaScript code into compromised WordPress sites to redirect site visitors to VexTrio domains. The most interesting thing about that malware was how it used dynamic DNS TXT records of Continue reading JavaScript Malware Switches to Server-Side Redirects & DNS TXT Records as TDS
We often write about malware that steals payment information from sites built with Magento and other types of e-commerce CMS. However, WordPress has become a massive player in ecommerce as well, thanks to the adoption of Woocommerce and other plugins Continue reading Magento Shoplift: Ecommerce Malware Targets Both WordPress & Magento CMS
The .htaccess file is notorious for being targeted by attackers. Whether it’s using the file to hide malware, redirect search engines to other sites with black hat SEO tactics, or inject content — the range of possibilities for misuse is Continue reading What is .htaccess Malware? (Detection, Symptoms & Prevention)
In January, my colleague reported about a new Balada Injector campaign found exploiting a recent vulnerability in the widely-used Popup Builder WordPress plugin which was initially disclosed back in November, 2023 by Marc Montpas. In the past three weeks, we’ve Continue reading New Malware Campaign Found Exploiting Stored XSS in Popup Builder < 4.2.3
Two weeks ago we discussed a new development in website hacks: Web3 crypto wallet drainers. We’ve been closely following the most significant variant which injects drainers using the external cachingjs/turboturbo.js script. Our SiteCheck website scanner has already detected this version Continue reading From Web3 Drainer to Distributed WordPress Brute Force Attack
SocGholish malware, otherwise known as “fake browser updates”, is one of the most common types of malware infections that we see on hacked websites. This long-standing malware campaign leverages a JavaScript malware framework that has been in use since at Continue reading New Wave of SocGholish Infections Impersonates WordPress Plugins
Since January 2024, there has been a notable surge in attacks by a novel form of website malware targeting Web3 and cryptocurrency assets. This malware, spread across multiple campaigns, uses crypto drainers to steal and redistribute assets from compromised wallets. Continue reading Web3 Crypto Malware: Angel Drainer – From Phishing Sites to Malicious Injections
Nowadays, the term DDoS — or Distributed Denial of Service — raises the heart rate of most webmasters. Though many don’t know exactly what DDoSing is, they might be familiar with the effects of getting DDoSed: an extremely sluggish, dysfunctional, Continue reading What is DDoSing
Emerging in 2022, a phishing tool known as Greatness has caught the attention of our research team due to its coordinated efforts to breach Microsoft 365 accounts and presence on compromised websites. More disturbingly, it has shown effectiveness against multi-factor Continue reading Detecting and Mitigating a Phishing Threat: “Greatness”
On December 11, 2023 WPScan published Marc Montpas’ research on the stored XSS vulnerability in the popular Popup Builder plugin (200,000+ active installation) that was fixed in version 4.2.3. A couple of days later, on December 13th, the Balada Injector Continue reading Thousands of Sites with Popup Builder Compromised by Balada Injector
One of our analysts recently found an interesting malicious plugin injected into a WordPress / WooCommerce ecommerce website which both creates and conceals a bogus administrator user. It was also found injecting sophisticated credit card skimming JavaScript into the website’s Continue reading MageCart WordPress Plugin Injects Malicious User & Credit Card Skimmer
On December 1, 2023, several security researchers reported about a new phishing campaign targeting WordPress administrators. WordPress sites owners had started receiving emails from WordPress.com with the following message: “The WordPress Security Team has discovered a Remove Code Execution (RCE) Continue reading Analysis of the Fake WordPress CVE-2023-46182 Patch Plugin & Phishing Campaign
Website hacking — the act of exploiting weaknesses to gain unauthorized access to a website, database, cPanel, or admin dashboard — is a reality that some webmasters struggle with. In the hands of bad actors, automated hack tools and exploit Continue reading Common Website Hacking Techniques
Consumers spent a whopping $35.3 billion during last year’s cyber week shopping season. With Cyber Monday accounting for $11.3 billion in revenue alone, this period remains one of the biggest online shopping events of the year. Unfortunately, hackers are making Continue reading Black Friday & Cyber Monday Ecommerce Security Threats
The malware landscape is constantly evolving — and bad actors are always devising new techniques to evade detection. Our analysts most commonly find website malware nestled within JavaScript or PHP files, which can be directly executed by browsers or servers. Continue reading Shifting Malware Tactics & Stealthy Use of Non-Executable .txt & .log Files
In the middle of September 2023, vulnerability advisory resources disclosed the details of an Unauthenticated Stored XSS vulnerability in the tagDiv Composer (the companion plugin for the popular tagDiv premium themes Newspaper and Newsmag). Shortly after that, we started noticing Continue reading Balada Injector Targets Unpatched tagDiv Plugin, Newspaper Theme & WordPress Admins
Japanese SEO Spam, also known as “Japanese keyword hack” or “Japanese SEO poisoning,” is a spammy search engine optimization technique used by black hat SEO artists to make a website show up in search engine results for spam keywords in Continue reading How to Find & Fix Japanese SEO Spam
MageCart infections most often come in the form of complex, obfuscated JavaScript injected into Magento database tables such as core_config_data, or as malicious plugins or core file injections installed into WordPress / WooCommerce environments (which are increasingly common, and may Continue reading Decoding Magecart: Credit Card Skimmers Concealed Through Pixels & Images
Since September 2022, our team has been tracking a bogus URL shortener redirect campaign that started with just a single domain: ois[.]is. By the beginning of 2023, this malware campaign had expanded to over a hundred domain names to redirect Continue reading Bogus URL Shorteners Go Mobile-Only in AdSense Fraud Campaign