The web browser, and search engines in particular, continue to be a popular entry point to deliver malware to users. While...

The web browser, and search engines in particular, continue to be a popular entry point to deliver malware to users. While we noted a decrease in loaders distributed via malvertising for the past 3 months, today’s example is a reminder that threat actors can quickly switch back to tried and tested methods.

After months of absence, Fakebat (AKA Eugenloader, PaykLoader) showed up on our radar again via a malicious Google ad for the productivity application Notion. FakeBat is a unique loader that has been used to drop follow-up payloads such as Lumma stealer.

In this blog post, we detail how criminals are targeting their victims and what final malware payload they are delivering post initial infection. The incident was found and reported to Google on the same day as this publication.

**Google Ads distribution**

Last time we saw FakeBat was on July 25 2024, via a malicious ad for Calendly, a popular online scheduling application. In that instance, FakeBat’s command and control infrastructure ran from _utd-gochisu\[.\]com_.

Fast forward to November 8, 2024, and we have an ad appearing at the top of a Google search for ‘notion’. That sponsored result looks entirely authentic, with an official logo and website. We already know that criminals are able to impersonate any brand of their liking by simply using a click tracker — or tracking template — in order to bypass detection.

Below is the network traffic from the ad URL to the payload. We can see the use of the tracking template (_smart.link_), followed by a cloaking domain (_solomonegbe\[.\]com_), before landing on the decoy site (_notion\[.\]ramchhaya.com_):

Why does this work and bypasses Google? Likely because if the user is not an intended victim, the tracking template would redirect them to the legitimate _notion.so_ website.

**FakeBat drops LummaC2 stealer**

After extracting the payload, we recognize the classic first stage FakeBat PowerShell:

Security researcher and long time FakeBat enthusiast RussianPanda was kind enough to give us a hand by looking at this installer in closer detail.

After some fingerprinting to avoid sandboxes, we get this second stage PowerShell:

Of note, the threat actors are still using the same old RastaMouse AMSI bypass script from April 2024:

The loader is obfuscated with .NET Reactor, where it decrypts the embedded resource with AES and then injects it into _MSBuild.exe_ via process hollowing:

The decrypted payload is LummaC2 Stealer with user ID: 9zXsP2.

**Conclusion**

While malicious ads delivering malware payloads have been a little more rare for the past several weeks, today’s example shows that threat actors can and will make a comeback whenever the time is right.

Brand impersonation via Google ads remains problematic, as anyone can leverage built-in features to appear legitimate and trick users into downloading malware.

We appreciate and would like to thanks RussianPanda‘s quick analysis on the payload, as well as security researcher Sqiiblydoo for reporting the malicious certificate used to sign the installer.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

**Indicators of Compromise**

Malvertising chain

solomonegbe\[.\]com  
notion\[.\]ramchhaya.com

Malicious Notion installer

34c46b358a139f1a472b0120a95b4f21d32be5c93bc2d1a5608efb557aa0b9de

FakeBat C2

ghf-gopp1rip\[.\]com

1.jar (PaykRunPE)

373cd164bb01f77ad1e37df844010ee5

LummaC2 (decrypted payload)

3e8c406831a0021f76f02c704b68ee60

JwefqUQWCg (encrypted resource)

497dc11a77a4898b6b5e3cc28a586a38

Malicious URLs

furliumalerer\[.\]site/1.jar  
pastebin\[.\]pl/view/raw/a58044c5

LummaC2 Stealer C2s:

rottieud\[.\]sbs  
relalingj\[.\]sbs  
repostebhu\[.\]sbs  
thinkyyokej\[.\]sbs  
tamedgeesy\[.\]sbs  
explainvees\[.\]sbs  
brownieyuz\[.\]sbs  
slippyhost\[.\]cfd  
ducksringjk\[.\]sbs

 Hello again, FakeBat: popular loader returns after months-long hiatus 

Canada wants TikTok to dissolve its business in the country. TikTok plans to challenge the decision in court

The Government of Canada ordered the TikTok Technology Canada Inc. to close its offices in the country following a national security review.

This decision was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may be injurious to Canada’s national security. Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry stated:

“As a result of a multi-step national security review process, which involves rigorous scrutiny by Canada’s national security and intelligence community, the Government of Canada has ordered the wind up of the Canadian business carried on by TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. The government is taking action to address the specific national security risks related to ByteDance Ltd.’s operations in Canada through the establishment of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners.”

This does not mean Canadians will no longer have access to the popular social media platform. It just means the Chinese owned company will have to close its Canadian operations located in Toronto and Vancouver.

Canada says the decision whether citizens want to use the social media platform is a personal choice but it does encourage Canadians to consult the guidance issued by Communications Security Establishment Canada’s Canadian Centre for Cyber Security to help them assess these risks.

One of the key points of their guidance is the “security over convenience” guideline, which says:

“It may be convenient to have an app always know your location or be able to fetch your photos without approval, but this isn’t the most secure option. Be aware of the features and elements of your device that can be accessed by an app, and make sure you limit permissions.”

Another one that is important in this case is the “consider where your data is being stored” guideline which reminds people to think about which nation’s laws will apply to your information and your activity on the platform.

TikTok responded that:

> “Shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of well-paying local jobs is not in anyone’s best interest, and today’s shutdown order will do just that. We will challenge this order in court.”

TikTok’s Chinese ownership has brought problems in other countries, as well. In April 2024, Malwarebytes Labs reported on how the US Senate approved a bill that would effectively ban TikTok from the country unless Chinese owner ByteDance gives up its share of the immensely popular app. That law is currently being challenged in court by the popular social media platform.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help protect your social media**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your social media accounts by using Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection.

 TikTok ordered to close Canada offices following &#8220;national security review&#8221; 

Consumer group Which? found privacy issues in connected air fryers. How smart do we want and need our appliances to be?

Consumer group Which? has warned shoppers to be selective when it comes to buying smart air fryers from Xiaomi, Cosori, and Aigostar.

We’ve learned to expect that “smart” appliances come with privacy risks—toothbrushes aside—but I really hadn’t given my air fryer any thought. Now things are about to change.

You don’t need to worry about the air fryers sending reports about your eating habits to your healthcare provider just yet. But according to Which?, the air fryers’ associated phone apps wanted to know customers’ precise locations, as well as permission to record audio on the user’s phone.

The researchers also found evidence that the Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers both sent people’s personal data to servers in China. This was specified in the privacy notice, but we know not everyone reads a privacy notice.

When buying any kind of smart device, it’s worth doing these things:

*   **Question the permissions an app asks for on your phone**. Does it serve a purpose for you, the user, or is it just some vendor being nosy?
*   **Read the privacy policy**. The vendors are counting on it that you won’t but there are times that privacy policies are very revealing.
*   **Ask yourself if the appliance needs to be smart**. What’s in it for you, and what’s the price you’re going to pay?

An easy solution is not to install the app, and don’t provide manufacturers with personal data they do not need to know. They may need your name for the warranty, but your gender, age, and—most of the time—your address isn’t needed.

You shouldn’t be surprised to find out that appliances that are activated by voice commands are listening to you. How else do you expect them to know you are giving them an order?

It’s what they do with the information and how well they are secured against abuse by third parties that we should be concerned with.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

 Air fryers are the latest surveillance threat you didn&#8217;t consider 

We have great news to share: Malwarebytes has acquired AzireVPN, a privacy-focused VPN provider.

Today I have great news to share: We’ve acquired AzireVPN, a privacy-focused VPN provider based in Sweden. 

I wanted to share with you our intentions behind this exciting step, and what this means for our existing users and the family of solutions they rely on to keep them private and secure. 

Malwarebytes has long been an advocate for user privacy (think Malwarebytes Privacy VPN and our free web extension Malwarebytes Browser Guard). Now, we’re leaning even more on our mission to reimagine consumer cybersecurity to protect devices and data, no matter where users are located, how they work and play, or the size of their wallet.  

With AzireVPN’s infrastructure and intellectual property, Malwarebytes is poised to develop more advanced VPN technologies and features, offering increased flexibility and enhanced security for our users. 

**Why AzireVPN?** 

AzireVPN is renowned for its robust security standards and privacy-first commitment. Here are two examples of what the company does to support that: 

*   AzireVPN physically owns and controls all of its dedicated and diskless servers—a practice Malwarebytes is committed to continuing.  

*   The company developed Blind Operator, a unique privacy feature implemented to completely disable both remote and local access to its servers. This creates a barrier against unauthorized modifications and traffic interception, making it virtually impossible for anyone to modify or tap the traffic on its servers and share any information about a user.  

**What does this mean for existing Malwarebytes Privacy VPN customers?** 

There are no changes for Malwarebytes Privacy VPN customers at this time. They will continue to enjoy our streamlined, integrated user experience, and our no-log service will never track, store, or share any user network data.  

**What does this mean for existing AzireVPN customers?** 

AzireVPN customers will also continue to enjoy the same privacy-focused VPN service – no logs, no data collection, no bandwidth limitations. There will continue to be no requirement to share any information to sign up for the service.   

**An exciting future is ahead of us** 

We’ll share more details on our future VPN offering in the coming months.  

I’m so excited about our future. This is yet another milestone for Malwarebytes, underscoring our commitment to privacy and a free and open internet.  

Thanks for putting your trust in us to protect you.

 Malwarebytes acquires AzireVPN to fuel additional VPN features and functionalities  

Consumers are being swamped by Google ads claiming to be eBay's customer service.

Tech support scammers are targeting eBay customers in the U.S. via fraudulent Google ads. In a few separate searches, we were able to identify multiple Sponsored results that were created from at least four different advertiser accounts.

While most of those ads clearly looked fake, they appeared consistently and prominently enough to trick the inattentive user into a scam. Victims who clicked the ad were redirected to bogus websites prompting them to call for assistance, leading them straight into the scammer’s den.

We have reported the malicious ads to Google and are monitoring for similar campaigns targeting other brands.

**Flurry of ads**

A search for ‘_ebay phone number_‘ or ‘_ebay customer service_‘ from the U.S. using Google Chrome returned several ads that were entirely fraudulent. Upon closer inspection, we found that they were created from four separate advertiser accounts, some belonging to legitimate entities, some created from scratch.

The first ad shown in the screenshot above is the most deceiving of all since it uses eBay’s brand name, logo and website. While Google has strict rules about who may be allowed to do this (i.e. the owner, affiliates), scammers are able to still “comply” with the rule and yet be total crooks.

All they need to do is ensure the final URL (once you click the ad) is one the same domain or is a subdomain that matches the one shown in the ad. That’s the case here, as they are using _developer.ebay.com_. (part of eBay’s Developers Program Search) which can technically be claimed as belonging to _ebay.com_.

Yet, as you can see below, the destination URL is not what one would expect. It shows a search portal with a printed search result that has eBay’s customer service phone number (narrator: it is not).

This is a trick we’ve seen recently with various online platforms: you perform a calculated search query, even if you know no result will be found. What matters is that your search query will appear on screen, and will be used to fool people who see it. In the example above, the search query was for “_eBay.Customer-Service +1 (866) 409\[-\]9281_“.

The other ads redirect to fake websites or pages hosted on cloud providers such as BitBucket claiming to be eBay customer service. Once again, scammers make it clear and obvious that users should call the phone number displayed on screen.

**Keeping scammers at bay**

Calling any of those phone numbers is strongly discouraged, unless of course your favorite sport is scam baiting. The tried and tested “tech support scam” is one of the most costly type of crime for American consumers.

From call centres mostly located overseas, young people with a broken English accent will attempt to trick victims into giving them access to their computer or phone. The end goal is to steal as much money as they can, by requesting gift cards or by taking over people’s own bank accounts.

It is important to always double check before calling any phone number, especially if it came from an ad or an unsolicited email. In doubt, always visit the source, i.e. _ebay.com_ to access support via live chat or get their official number.

If you weren’t already, you may want to consider using a browser extension such as Malwarebytes Browser Guard. Not only does it block ads, it also detects phishing sites of various kinds.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

**Indicators of Compromise**

Fake pages

e-bays-24x7support-number\[.\]vercel\[.\]app  
developer\[.\]ebay\[.\]com  
e-bay24x7pluscaresupport\[.\]bitbucket\[.\]io  
upbay\[.\]online  
e-bay24x7customer\[.\]casterins\[.\]online  
e-bay24x7-customers-services-assist\[.\]onrender\[.\]com

Fraudulent phone numbers

1\[-\]866\[-\]409\[-\]9281  
1\[-\]833\[-\]714\[-\]3970  
1\[-\]805\[-\]372\[-\]1369

 Large eBay malvertising campaign leads to scams 

Small businesses have the same security problems as big corporations, but not the budget or staff to match. Here are some tips to help.

Small businesses and startups are known to face some extra challenges when it comes to cybersecurity. Because they don’t have the size or budget to have a fully-fledged dedicated security team, it often comes down to one person that doesn’t have the time to do everything that is recommended or even required. Often security issues are just dealt with when the need arises.

There is the first issue right there. When the need arises, it’s often already too late. An infection has been found, a breach was discovered, or ransomware has disabled systems or made files unretrievable.

Small businesses also often do not consider themselves to be a target, but you don’t have to be explicitly targeted to get breached or infected. Depending on how small your business is, the tips below may be more or less important in your circumstances and for your threat model, which will depend on the line of business that you are in.

**1\. Enable your staff**

Your staff need to know what is expected of them, and what not to do.

*   Make cybersecurity a company-wide issue, but also appoint a go-to person that has a responsibility, along with the time and the tools to perform that task.
*   Train your employees in security awareness, so they can recognize phishing attempts and know what they can and can’t do on company-issued hardware.
*   Consider outsourcing time-consuming and specialized tasks. In the end this may turn out to be more cost-effective than trying to do it with your own staff.

**2\. Know your equipment**

It’s important to be aware of your networking equipment, endpoints, and devices. Not only to know what needs to be protected, but also to know where weaknesses may lie.

*   Pay special attention to devices that are used to work from home (WFH) or included in a BYOD program. Make it clear that mixing work and pleasure on the same device comes with security risks.
*   Audit your environment on a regular basis, especially if you are a fast growing small business. That way you’ll know what you are using and what may need to be upgraded, replaced, or updated.

**3\. Get your patches and updates asap**

Once you have established the hardware and software in your environment you need to perform effective patch and vulnerability management.

If having specialized software for this task or outsourcing it is not an option, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog which is maintained by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). This catalog provides Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies with a list of vulnerabilities that are known to be exploited in the wild and gives the agencies a due date by when the vulnerability needs to be patched in their organization. Even if your organization isn’t a FCEB agency that needs to follow the Binding Operation Directive 22-01, the CISA list acts as a good guide for your patch management strategy.

And keep an eye on security news sites in order to stay alerted to the biggest and most important updates and patches.

**4\. Lock things down**

Having a strict policy to protect your important assets with strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) should be a no-brainer. Consider making it easier for your staff by using a single-sign-on service or alternatively by providing them with a password manager.

Very important files and documents can be encrypted or stored in password protected folders to keep them safe from prying eyes. A stolen or lost device is stressful enough without having to worry about confidential information.

**5\. Use a firewall and VPN**

A firewall protects an entry point to a network while a VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between two networks. Both can be used to protect your network.

If your company has internet facing assets—and who doesn’t—it’s important to apply network segmentation. The process of network segmentation separates a computer network into subnetworks, and allows for each segment of the network to be protected with a different set of protocols. By separating each segment according to role and functionality, they can be protected with varying levels of security. A common step for small organizations is to separate the systems that require internet access from those that don’t.

Remote desktop protocol (RDP) is a network communications protocol that allows remote management of assets. It allows users to remotely login to systems and work on them as if they were physically there. RDP is a necessary evil sometimes, but there are ways to make it more secure.

**6\. Protect your systems**

Make sure all your devices are protected by cybersecurity solutions. Logs should be easy to digest and easy to understand, regardless of whether the readers are your own employees or those of a provider. A lot of needless alerts will interrupt your workflow, but you do not want to miss the important ones. So balance is important, especially with a limited staff.

**7\. Consider your supply chain safety**

Businesses need to understand what level of protection their providers or others with access to their resources have in place. Ransomware is contagious, so if your providers have it you likely will too. Supply chain attacks can come from your most trusted provider and still be disastrous. 

Check for compliance and certifications. Depending on the type of supplier and the level of access to your assets, there is nothing wrong about setting some standards. For example, your IT services supplier can demonstrate a good level of cybersecurity by having achieved a cyber certification. It may also help to know that your supplier is aligned with a standard of cybersecurity deemed good enough by government organizations.

**8\. Have a recovery strategy**

When a security issue arises despite all of your efforts to secure your environment, you should have a plan ready to contain and deal with the consequences.

*   Backups. Make sure you have backups that are as recent as possible and that are easy to deploy. Create backups in an environment that can’t be ruined by the same mishap that destroyed the original (preferably on a different carrier, physical location, and network).
*   Know what legal body you need to inform in case of a breach. This is especially important if Personally Identifiable Information (PII)is involved. It is hard to give guidelines here, since every US state has different data breach notification laws, so plan this ahead of time for your jurisdiction. And have a critical communications plan in place that details how you will inform your customers in case of a breach.

**Protect your small business**

We provide cybersecurity for sole proprietors, boutique businesses, and small offices – no IT skills required. Protect yourself with Malwarebytes for Teams.

 8 security tips for small businesses 

Google has released patches for two zero-days and a lot of other high level vulnerabilities.

Google has announced patches for several high severity vulnerabilities. In total, 51 vulnerabilities have been patched in November’s updates, two of which are under limited, active exploitation by cybercriminals.

If your Android phone shows patch level 2024-11-05 or later then the issues discussed below have been fixed. The updates have been made available for Android 12, 12L, 13, 14, and 15. Android vendors are notified of all issues at least a month before publication, however, this doesn’t always mean that the patches are available for all devices immediately.

You can find your device’s Android version number, security update level, and Google Play system level in your Settings app. You’ll get notifications when updates are available for you, but you can also check for them yourself.

For most phones it works like this: Under **About phone** or **About device** you can tap on **Software updates** to check if there are new updates available for your device, although there may be slight differences based on the brand, type, and Android version of your device.

Keeping your device as up to date as possible protects you from known vulnerabilities that have been fixed, and helps you to stay safe.

**Technical details**

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database lists publicly disclosed computer security flaws. The CVEs that look the most important are:

CVE-2024-43047: a high-severity use-after-free issue in closed-source Qualcomm components within the Android kernel that elevates privileges. Use after free (UAF) is a vulnerability due to incorrect use of dynamic memory during a program’s operation. If after freeing a memory location a program does not clear the pointer to that memory, an attacker can use the error to manipulate the program. Qualcomm disclosed the vulnerability in October as a problem in its Digital Signal Processor (DSP) service. The vulnerability is flagged as under limited, targeted exploitation and could allow an attacker to escalate privileges on targeted devices.

CVE-2024-43093: a high-severity escalation of privilege vulnerability impacting the Android Framework and the Google Play system updates. This is the second vulnerability that is flagged as under limited, targeted exploitation.

CVE-2024-43091: a high severity Remote Code Execution (RCE). By exploiting this vulnerability in the System component an attacker could remotely execute code on a device with no additional execution privileges needed.

CVE-2024-38408: is the only vulnerability listed as critical in this update. The problem is described as a “cryptographic issue when a controller receives an LMP start encryption command under unexpected conditions.” LMP stands for Link Manager Protocol, which is a communication system used in Bluetooth technology to set up and manage connections between devices. The “start encryption command” is a special instruction that tells Bluetooth devices to begin scrambling their communications. The issue was patched by Qualcomm, which published a long list of affected chipsets.

**We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

 Update your Android: Google patches two zero-day vulnerabilities 

The FBI has issued a warning that cybercriminals are taking over email accounts via stolen session cookies, whether or not someone has set up MFA.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning that cybercriminals are taking over email accounts via stolen session cookies, allowing them to bypass the multi-factor authentication (MFA) a user has set up.

Here’s how it works.

Most of us don’t think twice about checking the “Remember me” box when we log in. When you log in and the server has verified your authentication—straight away or after using MFA–the server creates a session and generates a unique session ID. This session ID is stored in a session cookie (or a “Remember-Me cookie” as the FBI calls it) on your browser, which is typically valid for 30 days.

Every time you return to that website within the time frame, you don’t need to log in. That’s really convenient… unless someone manages to steal that cookie from your system.

If someone steals the session cookie, they can log in as you—even if you have MFA enabled.

This is particularly relevant for email handlers that have an online—webmail—component. This includes major players like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and AOL.

With access to your email account, a cybercriminal can find a lot of useful information about you, such as where you bank, your account numbers, your favorite shops, and more. This information could then be used for targeted cyberattacks that mention information that’s relevant to you only, leaving you more likely to fall for them.

Cybercriminals could use your account to spread spam and phishing emails to your contacts. And perhaps most worrying of all, once an attacker is in your email account they can reset your passwords to your other accounts and login as you there too.

How do these criminals get their hands on your session cookies? There are several ways.

On very rare occasions, session cookies can be stolen by you visiting a malicious website, or via a Machine-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack where a cybercriminal can intercept traffic and steal cookies if they’re not protected by HTTPS on an unsecured network.

However, session cookies are usually stolen by malware on the your device. Modern information-stealing malware is capable of, and even focuses on, stealing session cookies as part of its activity.  

**How to keep your email account safe**

There are a few things you can do to stay safe from the cookie thieves:

*   Use security software on every device you use.
*   Keep your devices and the software on them up to date, so there aren’t any known vulnerabilities on them.
*   Decide whether you think it’s worth using the Remember me option. Is convenience worth the risk in this situation?
*   Delete cookies, or—even better—log out when you are done. That should also remove or invalidate the session ID from the server, so nobody can use it to log in, even if they have the session cookie.
*   Only visit sites with a secure connection (HTTPS) to protect your data from being intercepted during transmission.
*   For important accounts regularly check the log in history where you can see which devices logged in when and from where. You should be able to find this option in your account settings.

**We don’t just report on threats—we remove them**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

 Warning: Hackers could take over your email account by stealing cookies, even if you have MFA 

This week on the Lock and Code podcast, we speak with Cait Conley about CISA's election security measures and why your vote can't be hacked.

_This week on the Lock and Code podcast…_

The US presidential election is upon the American public, and with it come fears of “election interference.”

But “election interference” is a broad term. It can mean the now-regular and expected foreign disinformation campaigns that are launched to sow political discord or to erode trust in American democracy. It can include domestic campaigns to disenfranchise voters in battleground states. And it can include the upsetting and increasing threats made to election officials and volunteers across the country.

But there’s an even broader category of election interference that is of particular interest to this podcast, and that’s cybersecurity.

Elections in the United States rely on a dizzying number of technologies. There are the voting machines themselves, there are electronic pollbooks that check voters in, there are optical scanners that tabulate the votes that the American public actually make when filling in an oval bubble with pen, or connecting an arrow with a solid line. And none of that is to mention the infrastructure that campaigns rely on every day to get information out—across websites, through emails, in text messages, and more.

That interlocking complexity is only multiplied when you remember that each, individual state has its own way of complying with the Federal government’s rules and standards for running an election. As Cait Conley, Senior Advisor to the Director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) explains in today’s episode:

“There’s a common saying in the election space: If you’ve seen one state’s election, you’ve seen one state’s election.”

How, then, are elections secured in the United States, and what threats does CISA defend against?

Today, on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with Conley about how CISA prepares and trains election officials and volunteers before the big day, whether or not an American’s vote can be “hacked,” and what the country is facing in the final days before an election, particularly from foreign adversaries that want to destabilize American trust.

>  ”There’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to see Russia, Iran, or China try to claim that a distributed denial of service attack or a ransomware attack against a county is somehow going to impact the security or integrity of your vote. And it’s not true.”

Tune in today to listen to the full conversation.

_Show notes and credits:_

Intro Music: “Spellbound” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License  
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  
Outro Music: “Good God” by Wowa (unminus.com)

**Listen up—Malwarebytes doesn’t just talk cybersecurity, we provide it.**

Protect yourself from online attacks that threaten your identity, your files, your system, and your financial well-being with our exclusive offer for Malwarebytes Premium for Lock and Code listeners.

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