Security firm Netskope reported a malicious Google Ads campaign that displayed fake security alerts telling Windows and Mac users their computers were locked, urging them to call fraudulent tech-support numbers. The ads appeared on legitimate sites like maps, weather and real estate pages, and used full-screen takeovers, hidden cursors and blocked keyboard shortcuts to simulate a system failure. Netskope says it observed clicks from users at 619 customer organizations between August 31 and September 14, mostly in the US, Japan and Australia, across more than 250 ad campaign IDs and 284 publisher sites.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-28
Security firm Netskope found Google ads pushing a browser-locking scam across hundreds of legitimate websites, including maps, weather and sports sites, from August 31 to September 14. The fake alerts freeze the screen, hide the cursor and disable exit keys to pressure victims into calling a bogus support number, where scammers demand fees, remote access or personal data; Netskope says it blocked the attempts for the 619 client organizations it monitored, over 60 percent of them in the US.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-25
Netskope researchers found over 5,400 compromised small-business websites, mostly running WordPress and PrestaShop, injected with scripts that fetch malicious payloads from smart contracts on the BNB Smart Chain Testnet. Visitors are shown a fake CAPTCHA that tricks them into pasting a PowerShell command via the Windows Run dialog, which downloads and runs the attacker's final payload. Later in the campaign, attackers swapped the ClickFix payload for a stealthier WebRTC data-channel stager that opens a covert encrypted connection without a genuine handshake.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-05
GoKawiil