Latest news with #Avast
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report Reveals AI-Driven Scams Redefining Cybercrime
Press Release – Gen Auckland, 29 May, 2025 — Gen (NASDAQ: GEN), a global leader powering Digital Freedom with a family of trusted brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more, today released its Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report, highlighting the most significant shifts shaping the global Cyber Safety landscape observed between January and March 2025. Key report findings include a 186% surge in breached personal information, a 466% increase in phishing reports, growth in fake browser update scams by 17 times the previous quarter's levels, and more than 4 million people protected from Scam-Yourself Attacks, alongside the rise of mobile financial fraud and crypto-related US presidential inauguration scams. 'Online threats are evolving at a startling pace,' said Siggi Stefnisson, Cyber Safety CTO at Gen. 'Attackers are moving away from broad, indiscriminate campaigns to highly personalised, AI-enhanced deception. Breached data and AI tools are giving cybercriminals just enough personal information and design sophistication to more easily manipulate people. That's why we constantly evolve our cybersecurity solutions to be an interactive partner in fighting scams and to be one step ahead of cybercriminals.' Notable Trends from the Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report: Data Breaches Escalate Data breaches are on the rise, with a 36% increase in the number of breaches faced by companies compared to last quarter. Individual breached records surged by more than 186%, revealing sensitive information such as passwords, emails, and credit card details. Attackers employed more advanced infostealers like Lumma Stealer, making data compromise faster and harder to detect. Phishing Scams Designed to Bypass Security Filters Reports of phishing scams rose by a staggering 466% compared to the previous quarter, now making up nearly 32% of all scam submissions to the Norton Genie scam detector. According to the Norton Genie scam detector platform, phishing is the fastest-growing threat, second only to generic scams, which accounted for 51% of reports. The good news is that people are becoming more wary of potential phishing scams and reporting these messages. Telemetry data reveals a growing number of phishing campaigns that abuse dynamic DNS services and subdomain providers, as well as free website builders to create deceptive login pages. This means, that by mimicking legitimate login portals and leveraging trusted domains—like recent scams targeting AT&T, Telstra and Xfinity customers—attackers make phishing attempts harder to detect and more likely to succeed. Many of these campaigns create a sense of urgency for potential victims through emails claiming account issues or prompting people to review sensitive documents. Despite sometimes being poorly written, the use of familiar platforms and subdomain tricks allows these scams to bypass security filters and remain highly effective. Scam-Yourself Attacks and Fake Browser Updates on the Rise Example of a Fake Update popup in Firefox. The fake update mimics the branding, language, and layout of legitimate software. It often uses urgent language like: 'Your version is out of date, click to update now!' Gen helped protect over 4 million users from Scam-Yourself Attacks in which individuals, through sophisticated deception, are manipulated into infecting their own devices. In one of the most striking evolutions of this type of scam that we observed this quarter, attackers are using AI-generated personas, deepfake influencers and hired actors. They use these personas to deliver their malicious campaigns. This is primarily done through compromised YouTube accounts, leveraging interactive FakeCAPTCHAs and asking people to verify they are human but instead guiding them to give device permissions or download malware. Fake Update Scams grew to over 17 times last quarter's level. This type of Scam-Yourself Attack tricks people into installing malware under the guise of browser updates. Financial Threats Thrive on Mobile and Crypto Mobile financial threats continued to rise, fuelled by increasingly sophisticated tactics that target people directly through their smartphones. Malware, like banking trojans, now exploit accessibility features to overlay fake login pages, stealing sensitive data such as crypto wallet credentials. Combined with an uptick in credit and transaction fraud alerts, there's a growing trend of attackers focusing on mobile devices as gateways to people's financial lives. Digital currencies continue to be a target for financial threats. CryptoCore executed one of its most successful campaigns in early 2025, hinging on the US presidential inauguration. Attackers leveraged deepfake videos of public figures spread through compromised YouTube accounts to steal close to $4 million spread through more than 2,000 transactions. Gen is always innovating to stay one step ahead of today's evolving cyberthreats. Our trusted family of brands offers powerful solutions to help keep you safe—LifeLock helps people protect their identity, the Norton Cyber Safety lineup comes equipped with Norton Genie scam protection, and products like Avast Mobile Security offer protection for mobile devices, just to name a few. To learn more about the latest Cyber Safety tips and solutions, visit our blog at About Gen Gen (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more. The Gen family of consumer brands is rooted in providing financial empowerment and cyber safety for the first digital generations. Today, Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately and confidently for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy, identity protection and financial wellness to nearly 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report Reveals AI-Driven Scams Redefining Cybercrime
Press Release – Gen Example of a Fake Update popup in Firefox. The fake update mimics the branding, language, and layout of legitimate software. It often uses urgent language like: Your version is out of date, click to update now! Auckland, 29 May, 2025 — Gen (NASDAQ: GEN), a global leader powering Digital Freedom with a family of trusted brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more, today released its Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report, highlighting the most significant shifts shaping the global Cyber Safety landscape observed between January and March 2025. Key report findings include a 186% surge in breached personal information, a 466% increase in phishing reports, growth in fake browser update scams by 17 times the previous quarter's levels, and more than 4 million people protected from Scam-Yourself Attacks, alongside the rise of mobile financial fraud and crypto-related US presidential inauguration scams. 'Online threats are evolving at a startling pace,' said Siggi Stefnisson, Cyber Safety CTO at Gen. 'Attackers are moving away from broad, indiscriminate campaigns to highly personalised, AI-enhanced deception. Breached data and AI tools are giving cybercriminals just enough personal information and design sophistication to more easily manipulate people. That's why we constantly evolve our cybersecurity solutions to be an interactive partner in fighting scams and to be one step ahead of cybercriminals.' Notable Trends from the Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report: Data Breaches Escalate Data breaches are on the rise, with a 36% increase in the number of breaches faced by companies compared to last quarter. Individual breached records surged by more than 186%, revealing sensitive information such as passwords, emails, and credit card details. Attackers employed more advanced infostealers like Lumma Stealer, making data compromise faster and harder to detect. Phishing Scams Designed to Bypass Security Filters Reports of phishing scams rose by a staggering 466% compared to the previous quarter, now making up nearly 32% of all scam submissions to the Norton Genie scam detector. According to the Norton Genie scam detector platform, phishing is the fastest-growing threat, second only to generic scams, which accounted for 51% of reports. The good news is that people are becoming more wary of potential phishing scams and reporting these messages. Telemetry data reveals a growing number of phishing campaigns that abuse dynamic DNS services and subdomain providers, as well as free website builders to create deceptive login pages. This means, that by mimicking legitimate login portals and leveraging trusted domains—like recent scams targeting AT&T, Telstra and Xfinity customers—attackers make phishing attempts harder to detect and more likely to succeed. Many of these campaigns create a sense of urgency for potential victims through emails claiming account issues or prompting people to review sensitive documents. Despite sometimes being poorly written, the use of familiar platforms and subdomain tricks allows these scams to bypass security filters and remain highly effective. Scam-Yourself Attacks and Fake Browser Updates on the Rise Example of a Fake Update popup in Firefox. The fake update mimics the branding, language, and layout of legitimate software. It often uses urgent language like: 'Your version is out of date, click to update now!' Gen helped protect over 4 million users from Scam-Yourself Attacks in which individuals, through sophisticated deception, are manipulated into infecting their own devices. In one of the most striking evolutions of this type of scam that we observed this quarter, attackers are using AI-generated personas, deepfake influencers and hired actors. They use these personas to deliver their malicious campaigns. This is primarily done through compromised YouTube accounts, leveraging interactive FakeCAPTCHAs and asking people to verify they are human but instead guiding them to give device permissions or download malware. Fake Update Scams grew to over 17 times last quarter's level. This type of Scam-Yourself Attack tricks people into installing malware under the guise of browser updates. Financial Threats Thrive on Mobile and Crypto Mobile financial threats continued to rise, fuelled by increasingly sophisticated tactics that target people directly through their smartphones. Malware, like banking trojans, now exploit accessibility features to overlay fake login pages, stealing sensitive data such as crypto wallet credentials. Combined with an uptick in credit and transaction fraud alerts, there's a growing trend of attackers focusing on mobile devices as gateways to people's financial lives. Digital currencies continue to be a target for financial threats. CryptoCore executed one of its most successful campaigns in early 2025, hinging on the US presidential inauguration. Attackers leveraged deepfake videos of public figures spread through compromised YouTube accounts to steal close to $4 million spread through more than 2,000 transactions. Gen is always innovating to stay one step ahead of today's evolving cyberthreats. Our trusted family of brands offers powerful solutions to help keep you safe—LifeLock helps people protect their identity, the Norton Cyber Safety lineup comes equipped with Norton Genie scam protection, and products like Avast Mobile Security offer protection for mobile devices, just to name a few. To learn more about the latest Cyber Safety tips and solutions, visit our blog at About Gen Gen (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more. The Gen family of consumer brands is rooted in providing financial empowerment and cyber safety for the first digital generations. Today, Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately and confidently for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy, identity protection and financial wellness to nearly 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report Reveals AI-Driven Scams Redefining Cybercrime
Auckland, 29 May, 2025 — Gen (NASDAQ: GEN), a global leader powering Digital Freedom with a family of trusted brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more, today released its Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report, highlighting the most significant shifts shaping the global Cyber Safety landscape observed between January and March 2025. Key report findings include a 186% surge in breached personal information, a 466% increase in phishing reports, growth in fake browser update scams by 17 times the previous quarter's levels, and more than 4 million people protected from Scam-Yourself Attacks, alongside the rise of mobile financial fraud and crypto-related US presidential inauguration scams. 'Online threats are evolving at a startling pace,' said Siggi Stefnisson, Cyber Safety CTO at Gen. 'Attackers are moving away from broad, indiscriminate campaigns to highly personalised, AI-enhanced deception. Breached data and AI tools are giving cybercriminals just enough personal information and design sophistication to more easily manipulate people. That's why we constantly evolve our cybersecurity solutions to be an interactive partner in fighting scams and to be one step ahead of cybercriminals.' Notable Trends from the Q1/2025 Gen Threat Report: Data Breaches Escalate Data breaches are on the rise, with a 36% increase in the number of breaches faced by companies compared to last quarter. Individual breached records surged by more than 186%, revealing sensitive information such as passwords, emails, and credit card details. Attackers employed more advanced infostealers like Lumma Stealer, making data compromise faster and harder to detect. Phishing Scams Designed to Bypass Security Filters Reports of phishing scams rose by a staggering 466% compared to the previous quarter, now making up nearly 32% of all scam submissions to the Norton Genie scam detector. According to the Norton Genie scam detector platform, phishing is the fastest-growing threat, second only to generic scams, which accounted for 51% of reports. The good news is that people are becoming more wary of potential phishing scams and reporting these messages. Telemetry data reveals a growing number of phishing campaigns that abuse dynamic DNS services and subdomain providers, as well as free website builders to create deceptive login pages. This means, that by mimicking legitimate login portals and leveraging trusted domains—like recent scams targeting AT&T, Telstra and Xfinity customers—attackers make phishing attempts harder to detect and more likely to succeed. Many of these campaigns create a sense of urgency for potential victims through emails claiming account issues or prompting people to review sensitive documents. Despite sometimes being poorly written, the use of familiar platforms and subdomain tricks allows these scams to bypass security filters and remain highly effective. Scam-Yourself Attacks and Fake Browser Updates on the Rise Example of a Fake Update popup in Firefox. The fake update mimics the branding, language, and layout of legitimate software. It often uses urgent language like: 'Your version is out of date, click to update now!' Gen helped protect over 4 million users from Scam-Yourself Attacks in which individuals, through sophisticated deception, are manipulated into infecting their own devices. In one of the most striking evolutions of this type of scam that we observed this quarter, attackers are using AI-generated personas, deepfake influencers and hired actors. They use these personas to deliver their malicious campaigns. This is primarily done through compromised YouTube accounts, leveraging interactive FakeCAPTCHAs and asking people to verify they are human but instead guiding them to give device permissions or download malware. Fake Update Scams grew to over 17 times last quarter's level. This type of Scam-Yourself Attack tricks people into installing malware under the guise of browser updates. Financial Threats Thrive on Mobile and Crypto Mobile financial threats continued to rise, fuelled by increasingly sophisticated tactics that target people directly through their smartphones. Malware, like banking trojans, now exploit accessibility features to overlay fake login pages, stealing sensitive data such as crypto wallet credentials. Combined with an uptick in credit and transaction fraud alerts, there's a growing trend of attackers focusing on mobile devices as gateways to people's financial lives. Digital currencies continue to be a target for financial threats. CryptoCore executed one of its most successful campaigns in early 2025, hinging on the US presidential inauguration. Attackers leveraged deepfake videos of public figures spread through compromised YouTube accounts to steal close to $4 million spread through more than 2,000 transactions. Gen is always innovating to stay one step ahead of today's evolving cyberthreats. Our trusted family of brands offers powerful solutions to help keep you safe—LifeLock helps people protect their identity, the Norton Cyber Safety lineup comes equipped with Norton Genie scam protection, and products like Avast Mobile Security offer protection for mobile devices, just to name a few. To learn more about the latest Cyber Safety tips and solutions, visit our blog at The full Gen Threat Report is available now at About Gen Gen (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, MoneyLion and more. The Gen family of consumer brands is rooted in providing financial empowerment and cyber safety for the first digital generations. Today, Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately and confidently for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy, identity protection and financial wellness to nearly 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at
Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- Tom's Guide
Avast Premium antivirus review
Avast Premium is a powerful antivirus program that's loaded with extra features. Compared to some of the best antivirus programs, this low-cost package doesn't throw in bloatware to make it seem like the subscription fee is worth it. Instead, you'll be able to create a backup of your sensitive files to protect against ransomware, search for sensitive files and protect them against prying eyes, and even block your biggest surprise with Avast Premium is that the list of security features doesn't stop there -- there is so much to explore in the app that it might even seem overwhelming at first. The antivirus software doesn't mess around, it also offers a highly capable security tool for protecting your email called Email Guardian. The app protects against DNS hijacking and remote desktop exploits, both dangerous and all-too-common attacks. Yet, with all of this power comes a downside: Avast Premium does not include a VPN or a password manager, features that are often included in competing products. You can still rely on the extensive security protection but will have to add a VPN and password manager if those are features you're going to need. That means Avast Premium can't best Bitdefender Total Security, our top pick for antivirus software. It's also not as capable as McAfee+ Premium or Norton 360 Deluxe. All three of those top picks include a VPN and a password manager for one subscription fee. (Thought Bitdefender Total Security has a 200 MB per day limit on the VPN and includes a trial version of the password manager.) Avast also tends to include many 'reminders' to upgrade to their VPN app, Avast SecureLine VPN, and add their performance tool, Avast Cleanup. That said, if you're mainly looking for extensive security protection, Avast Premium is a wise choice. Even with all of this security capability, Avast Premium is actually one of the lowest cost options out there, cheaper than most security packages for consumer use. To protect one device, the subscription fee is only $79.99, which is a good $30 less than most antivirus programs like Bitdefender. For protecting 10 devices, the yearly cost is only $99.99, which is about $10-$20 less than antivirus products from Norton, Bitdefender, and McAfee with a similar feature set. There's an exceptional value here if you can set aside the fact that the Premium version does not include a VPN or a password manager -- which are included with Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee+ Premium. In fact, McAfee+ Premium does not set a limit on how many devices you can protect. With Avast, you can select the package for one device or 10. The app works with Apple Mac, Windows, tablets or your smartphone (iOS or Android). Avast includes limited privacy protection features, such as a data shield for your sensitive documents and a data shredder. For performance tools, the app only includes a tool for seeing if your installed software needs an update and a way to disable notifications while you work. That last feature is a bit unusual and seems to be mostly about not being interrupted. As mentioned, the security features are quite extensive and include a few options that go beyond our top picks in the category, such as Bitdefender and Norton 360. For virus scanning, you can do a quick scan or targeted (which allows you to select specific folders). Like Norton 360, you can also do a boot detector scan which runs before you load Windows. Digging into the app, there's a new feature to explore at every turn. You can scan your computer for sensitive information -- such as a Social Security number in a PDF or login info -- and then add extra protection to those documents by blocking access to them. The Email Guardian feature worked perfectly by scanning incoming messages, then adding a 'safe' label to emails that did not pose a threat. There's a sandbox mode to run any app in a protected environment, and a banking mode that lets you conduct financial transactions in a browser that runs on top of Windows. (You can't even take a screenshot when in that mode.) Avast doesn't stop there. You can run a dedicated browser beyond the bank mode, although it should be noted this Avast browser is available for free. The browser runs in a safe mode that doesn't allow you to be tracked by advertisers and blocks harmful sites. Avast Premium is a speedy and capable app while lacking some of the polish of Norton 360 Deluxe (though both apps are made by the same company). That straightforward design is a benefit for those who just want to run antivirus scans. In our tests, a fast scan only took about three minutes; faster than the Bitdefender, McAfee, and Norton antivirus offerings. The full boot sector scan took 12 minutes, which is about 15-20 minutes faster than the competing apps. However, Avast Premium only found about 900,000 files on the same PC used to test the competitors, which found about 1.5M files. Since Avast Premium does not include a VPN, we weren't able to test downloads using that encrypted connection. However, Avast Premium generally ran faster than the glossier competing apps, and we noticed the iOS and Android apps both operated in a streamlined way. When looking to measure how an antivirus program protects against actual threats, we compare the results produced by independent labs: AV Test, AV Comparatives and SE Labs. In AV Test's Jan/February 2025 Product Review and Certification Report, Avast scored 6 out of 6 in protection scoring where it was able to scan through over 16,000 samples in four weeks to search for malware samples. It also produced only three false positives in over 850,000 samples. In AV Comparatives March 2025 Malware Protection Test Avast scored a 99.96% protection rate and scanned over 10,026 files, correctly catching 4 compromised ones. However it produced ten false positives during this testing, much the same as Norton. In SE Labs' 2023 Endpoint Security testing, Avast produced 100% accuracy against both targeted and general attacks with zero false positives. While Avast Premium is loaded with security features as described above, the package is a little thin on extra protection for privacy and when it comes to disk cleanup tools and other features meant to make your PC or Mac run faster and leaner. It's clear that Avast Premium is focused primarily on antivirus protection, and if that is what you really need, this might be a top choice. Some of the competing apps in the space add both privacy and performance enhancing features designed to make your PC run safer and faster, but Avast mostly points you to add-on programs with a separate subscription fee. For example, you can scan for privacy problems and see the results, but to actually fix any of those issues, Avast only offers an option to buy Avast Secure Identity which costs $99.99 per year. That app does provide access to experts to help resolve identity theft problems, so it may be worth it depending on the issues you're facing. For performance-related functions like disk cleanup, you will need to buy Avast Cleanup Premium which costs $41.88 per year. That app can remove hidden files, clean up a broken registry, and even fix fragmented disk problems. It's similar to the Norton disk cleanup app. Avast Premium is a slim and functional app. It lacks the polish of a slicker and more polished app like Norton 360 Deluxe, which has a clean white and yellow look. The Avast interface looks more dated, although it was never hard to find a feature or run a utility. The interface has a black and green interface with red labels on anything important or that needs to be addressed. As such, you can find issues and solutions for them quickly. There are obvious buttons on the left for protection, privacy and performance -- although as stated above, the privacy and performance functions are limited. That means you might spend most of your time running antivirus tools. However, that may be exactly what you need and is what Avast Premium focuses on most. Avast Premium comes with 24x7 tech support by chat, and during our tests, the technicians helped resolve a question about cloud storage easily (the app does not offer cloud storage). The phone support is more for billing questions, but you can also send in a support ticket by email. Avast Premium is a highly capable antivirus package that focuses on the most serious security threats -- protecting you from ransomware scams, protecting sensitive documents, and even offering a safe browser for banking and other online activity. It's also reasonably priced,protecting one device costs lower than Norton, McAfee, and Bitdefender. In the end, Avast Premium is a good choice for antivirus protection at a fair price, but the lack of any privacy protection, a VPN or a password manager makes it less compelling.
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Epoch Times
FBI Warns of Attacks on Old Internet Routers, Explains How to Prevent Them
The FBI on Wednesday warned that American internet users and smaller businesses should be wary of entities taking advantage of older internet routers that could be 'susceptible to vulnerabilities,' namely from a malware known as 'TheMoon.' 'When a hardware device is end-of-life, the manufacturer no longer sells the product and is not actively supporting the hardware, which also means they are no longer releasing software updates or security patches for the device,' the agency 'Routers dating from 2010 or earlier likely no longer receive software updates issued by the manufacturer and could be compromised by cyber actors exploiting known vulnerabilities.' The bureau noted that some older routers were breached by hackers using TheMoon malware and that recently some end-of-life routers 'were identified as compromised by a new variant of TheMoon malware,' allowing the 'cyber actors to install proxies on unsuspecting victim routers and conduct cyber crimes anonymously.' Private cybersecurity organizations have been detailing the threat posed by TheMoon for years, which 'After compromising these devices, the malware utilizes them to route traffic through a proxy service known as Faceless,' added Broadcom, which owns subsidiaries that produce the Norton, Avast, AVG, and Avira anti-virus programs. 'It actively seeks out specific shell environments to execute its primary malicious payload and establishes connections with the threat actors' command and control server to receive further instructions.' Related Stories 5/7/2025 5/7/2025 The FBI recommended that older routers be replaced with an updated model, and users apply a security patch if available for the device, as well as disable remote management or remote administration on the router, and use strong passwords of more than 16 characters. 'Commonly identified signs of malware infections on routers include overheating devices, problems with connectivity, and changes to settings the administrator does not recognize,' the FBI said. Telecommunications company Lumen Technologies 'Lumen has stopped all traffic to and from the infrastructures associated with TheMoon and Faceless across its global network,' the company said in a statement last year. 'Small office routers continue to be a key target for cybercriminals. In less than two years, Black Lotus Labs has discovered six large malware campaigns using compromised [small office/home office] routers.' FBI Director Kash Patel testified this week before Congress and said the FBI seeks about $11.1 billion to fund its law enforcement activities, $1 billion more than the White House proposed. 'We have not looked at who to cut,' Patel said, referring to possible staff terminations. 'We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut.' Reuters contributed to this report.
