Tag Archives: Google

Some attackers use online meeting services as bait for malware. Researchers at Zscaler found fake Skype, Zoom and Google Meet websites that were used by threat actors to spread Remote Access Trojans – RAT for short.

Zscaler’s ThreatLabZ team warns about fake online meeting sites that distribute various malware families. Already at the beginning of December 2023, the researchers discovered a threat actor who creates fake Skype, Google Meet and Zoom websites to spread malware in order to spread remote access Trojans such as SpyNote RAT to Android users and NjRAT and DCRat to Windows users . These pages keep appearing in new versions.

🔎 The attack chain and execution flow for Android and Windows campaigns (Image: Zscaler).

Deceptively real web addresses as a trap

The malware actor…

Google’s John Mueller for the umpteenth time said that sharing IP addresses and/or having your site on a shared server and/or using a CDN that does all of that, is fine for Google Search, SEO and ranking. In fact, he said it is “normal” for sites to do this.

John wrote on X, “There are a limited number of IP addresses, it’s normal for them to be shared.” This was in response to the concern that sharing IPs or hosting with spammy sites can hurt your SEO:

There are a limited number of IP addresses, it’s normal for them to be shared.

— John (@JohnMu) April 3, 2024

I mean, there are super rare cases where Google has banned hosts completely and wipped out a whole ccTLD of sorts. But that is super rare, which I guess is where the rumors started from.

John Mueller added on

Google updated its Safe Browsing feature. Now, Chrome users can receive real-time updates on dangerous websites. In the past, Safe Browsing updated its database of harmful sites every 30 to 60 minutes.

But since many harmful sites are only active for a short period, often less than 10 minutes, this was not effective enough. Now, Google’s servers will update the Safe Browsing list constantly, offering immediate protection against new threats. Google claims this method will reduce phishing site encounters by a margin.

Privacy has been a key focus in this update. Real-time Safe Browsing employs various privacy-preserving techniques to ensure Google does not learn the specifics of the sites users visit.

This feature has been released on Chrome’s desktop and iOS versions, with…

This year’s Google I/O, the company’s annual developers conference, is set to take place on May 14, per the company’s event website, which went live on Thursday.

Details are slim as to what Google will show off at this year’s I/O, but if last year was any indication, it’ll continue to focus on its advancements in AI. 

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Google I/O is the company’s main annual event where it shows off new goals, products and future projections. It’s also a time for developers to come together to learn more about what Google is bringing to the Chrome, Android and other Google products. Apart from a main keynote, headed by CEO Sundar Pichai, there are other developer-focused talks that discuss the finer details of app and product…

Bad actors are using fake Zoom, Microsoft’s Skype and Google Meet websites to distribute malware.

As discovered by Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers, threat actors have been impersonating video conferencing brands to spread various malware targeting both Android and Windows users since December 2023.

The spoofed sites, designed in Russian and hosted on URLs eerily similar to their legitimate versions, suggest that attackers are employing “typosquatting” tactics to entice potential victims into downloading malware — meaning some users might not notice the typo in the domain and so believe they will be on the legitimate website.

Zscaler ThreatLabz wrote:

The attacker utilized shared web hosting, hosting all these fake online meeting sites on a…