Eliana Willis

Xuanyu Han/Getty Images A phishing attack that previously hit Windows users has now switched its target to the Mac. In a report published Wednesday, security provider LayerX Labs explains how and why the attackers are now eager to scam Mac users. Also: What is vishing? Voice phishing is surging – expert tips on how to spot […] More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETGoogle Chrome users who want to stay safe and secure will want to update their browser to the latest version. That’s because it contains a fix for a critical vulnerability that could cause Chrome to crash or even infect your system or device with malware.On Wednesday, Google released Chrome version 134.0.6998.117/.118 for Windows and Mac and 134.0.6998.117 for Linux. Rolling out over the next few days and weeks, this version offers several security fixes. But the patch for the critical vulnerability is the most important one.Also: I’ve tried nearly every browser out there and these are my top 6 (none are Chrome)As described in the NIST vulnerability database, CVE-2025-2476 points to “Use after free in Lens in Google Chrome prior to 134.0.6998.117 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.” And what does that mean in layman’s terms? Let’s break it down.”Use after free” is a type of memory corruption in which a program continues to use a block of memory even after it’s been freed. Lens in Google Chrome refers to the Google Lens tool that can search for and identify items you spot through your phone’s camera.”Heap corruption” means that someone could exploit data stored in the block of memory. And “a crafted HTML page” — in this instance — is a web page custom-designed for malicious purposes. Put them together, and any previous version of Chrome is susceptible to web pages created by attackers that would take advantage of corrupted memory to infect your PC with malware.Here’s a clever way to visualize this type of flaw. More

ZDNETAs a Google Maps user, I tend to assume that the listings I find in a search are real and legitimate. But that assumption could get me in trouble.Google recently discovered more than 10,000 phony listings in Google Maps, CBS News reported on Wednesday. The listings ran the gamut from blatantly fake businesses to legitimate accounts that had been hacked or hijacked by cybercriminals. In response, Google removed the listings and has filed a lawsuit against the alleged scammers behind them. The old bait-and-switch tacticIn an interview with CBS Mornings, Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado explained how one complaint uncovered a much wider plot. The probe started after a Texas business complained to Google that an unlicensed locksmith was impersonating them on Google Maps. In this hacked listing, the scammers replaced the existing phone number with a number of their own. Any person calling the new number would have been directed to a different locksmith who might have charged the consumer an exorbitant fee to fix a lock. This one incident led Google to ultimately discover a much greater number of fake listings. Also: 6 Google Maps tricks to tryRelying on the old bait-and-switch tactic, the particular scam was also successful because it targeted people in “duress verticals.” In these, the customer is usually in a vulnerable or urgent situation, such as being locked out of their home. The scammers count on this urgency to trick their victims, who may not realize they’re being scammed until it’s too late. “Online profiles are extremely valuable to businesses as well as consumers,” Prado said in the CBS interview. “Small and medium businesses use those listings for word of mouth and discoverability. Consumers use the reviews for those listings to make decisions on what service to use or not to use. A fake profile and a fake review undermine the trust you have in that ecosystem.” More