Scam Prevention | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Criminals don't need to be clever all the time; they just follow the easiest path in: trick users, exploit stale components, or abuse trusted systems like OAuth and package registries. If your stack or habits make any of those easy, you're already a target. This week's ThreatsDay highlights show exactly how those weak points are being exploited — from overlooked misconfigurations to sophisticated new attack chains that turn ordinary tools into powerful entry points. Lumma Stealer Stumbles After Doxxing Drama Decline in Lumma Stealer Activity After Doxxing Campaign The activity of the Lumma Stealer (aka Water Kurita) information stealer has witnessed a "sudden drop" since last months after the identities of five alleged core group members were exposed as part of what's said to be an aggressive underground exposure campaign dubbed Lumma Rats since late August 2025. The targeted individuals are affiliated with the malware's development and administ...

The online world is changing fast. Every week, new scams, hacks, and tricks show how easy it's become to turn everyday technology into a weapon. Tools made to help us work, connect, and stay safe are now being used to steal, spy, and deceive. Hackers don't always break systems anymore — they use them. They hide inside trusted apps, copy real websites, and trick people into giving up control without even knowing it. It's no longer just about stealing data — it's about power, money, and control over how people live and communicate. This week's ThreatsDay issue looks at how that battle is unfolding — where criminals are getting smarter, where defenses are failing, and what that means for anyone living in a connected world. Crypto empire built on slavery Historic Operation Targets SE Asian Scam Networks with $15B Seizure The U.S. government has seized $15 billion (approximately 127,271 bitcoin) worth of cryptocurrency assets from one of the world's largest operators ...

Google on Wednesday revealed that it suspended over 39.2 million advertiser accounts in 2024, with a majority of them identified and blocked by its systems before it could serve harmful ads to users. In all, the tech giant said it stopped 5.1 billion bad ads, restricted 9.1 billion ads, and blocked or restricted ads on 1.3 billion pages last year. It also suspended over 5 million accounts for scam-related violations. In comparison, Google suspended over 12.7 million advertiser accounts, stopped 5.5 billion bad ads, restricted 6.9 billion ads, and blocked or restricted ads on 2.1 billion pages in 2023. The top six ad policy violations included ad network abuse (793.1 million), trademark misuse (503.1 million), personalized ads (491.3 million), legal requirements (280.3 million), financial services (193.7 million), and misrepresentation (146.9 million), among others. Most of the pages on which its ads were blocked or restricted include sexual content, dangerous or derogatory con...

Google on Wednesday announced a new partnership with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance ( GASA ) and DNS Research Federation ( DNS RF ) to combat online scams . The initiative, which has been codenamed the Global Signal Exchange ( GSE ), is designed to create real-time insights into scams, fraud, and other forms of cybercrime pooling together threat signals from different data sources in order to create more visibility into the facilitators of cybercrime. "By joining forces and establishing a centralized platform, GSE aims to improve the exchange of abuse signals, enabling faster identification and disruption of fraudulent activities across various sectors, platforms and services," Google said in a blog post shared with The Hacker News. "The goal is to create a user-friendly, efficient solution that operates at an internet-scale, and is accessible to qualifying organizations, with GASA and the DNS Research Federation managing access." The tech giant said it has sh...