It has been reported that 10,000 Facebook users were tricked into installing malware this week, an infection that spread quickly by mimicking Facebook’s notifications feature inside Facebook Messenger. It just might be the most successful malware bot on Facebook’s Messenger platform yet.
Victims received a message “from a friend,” which stated that the friend mentioned them on Facebook. Clicking the link didn’t take users to a Facebook post, however, but instead installing a trojan complete with a Chrome extension that automatically hijacked the victim’s Facebook account. From there, the malware spread to more users.
“A successful attack gave the threat actor the ability to change privacy settings, extract data, and more, allowing it to spread the infection through the victim’s Facebook friends or undertake other malicious activity such as spam, identity theft, and generating fraudulent ‘likes’ and ‘shares,’” said a Kaspersky release on the malware. The malware would also blacklist the URLs for anti-virus software, making it harder to remove.
It seems as though only Windows desktop users were vulnerable to the infection, Kaspersky is reporting, though it’s possible the malware could spread on Windows phones. Android and iOS are immune. Infections occurred mostly in Brazil, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia, Venezuela, Germany, and Israel, according to Kaspersky.
“Two aspects of this attack stand out,” said Ido Naor, senior Security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “Firstly, the delivery of the malware was extremely efficient, reaching thousands of users in only 48 hours. Secondly, the response from consumers and the media was almost as fast. Their reaction raised awareness of the campaign and drove prompt action and investigation by the providers concerned.”
Facebook has taken steps to slow the malware’s spread, and Google has removed the offending Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. So the malware should be slowed, for now, but if you’re worried about your computer be sure to run a malware scan today.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.