Apart from the privacy concerns around smart glasses, researchers have found that some cheap brands come with barely any security at all.

ABC Australia reports that researchers from NSB Cyber and Abstract Shield tested two inexpensive pairs, costing A$60 and A$110 (around US$42 and US$78), and found more than a dozen flaws across the smart glasses themselves, their app, and an associated website.

The main problem they uncovered was insecure Bluetooth pairing: If the glasses were powered on and not connected to their owner’s phone, an attacker could connect first, with no password or meaningful pairing confirmation.

After connecting, an attacker could reportedly control the glasses to capture photos or recordings, copy existing media, and intercept data moving between the glasses and the phone. An attacker could also make another device appear to be the victim’s glasses, allowing it to connect to the owner’s mobile app.

The testing also found that a Bluetooth-visible device identifier could allegedly be used with a weakness in the app’s website to retrieve a user’s email address and date of birth.

The research uncovered another privacy issue. ABC reports that voice or text submitted to the built-in AI, along with images sent to it, was first transmitted to a server in Shenzhen and could be forwarded elsewhere, depending on the function. The tests did not establish how the data was subsequently used.

The server locations, combined with some of the AI’s answers to specific questions, led researchers to conclude that the chatbot companion relied at least in part on Chinese sovereign AI models. Professor Kimberlee Weatherall, a technology regulation expert involved in the testing, said the failure to identify China in the privacy policy appeared to violate the Australian Privacy Principles,

The timing of the testing is also relevant because Australia’s smart-device security standards apply to most consumer smart devices manufactured on or after March 4, 2026. They require, among other measures, no universal default passwords, a way to report vulnerabilities, and information about the minimum security-update period. Devices made before that date are outside the requirements.

Experts quoted by ABC said the devices violated Australia’s privacy laws and were also likely to breach several sections of the Cyber Security Act. However, whether the new smart-device standards apply would depend partly on when the glasses were manufactured, and the rules have not yet been tested in a known enforcement action.

Professor Weatherall said:

“The rules say that the password must be unique. It doesn’t even seem like they were applying a password, which might mean that their standards are so low they don’t even technically breach that rule, which I find amazing.”

What to do

We’re not fans of smart glasses, expensive or cheap. But if you own a pair:

• Avoid pairing or using inexpensive camera glasses that lack a clear physical pairing step, account authentication, a published security-contact process, and a stated update-support period.
• Stop using their AI or cloud features for sensitive material, remove unnecessary permissions from the companion app, check for firmware and app updates, and consider returning the product if the vendor cannot document a fix.
• Ask permission before recording people, and check your local laws to understand what is and isn’t allowed.

From reporting threats to removing them.

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.

The Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued a warning after being notified of several incidents where a vulnerability in Apple’s Screen Sharing feature was exploited to install Monero cryptominers.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-65400, was patched by Apple on August 6. It is an authentication-bypass flaw in macOS Screen Sharing that can let an attacker on the network connect without valid credentials.

macOS’s built-in Screen Sharing service is a remote-control feature commonly associated with port 5900. Successful exploitation can allow a remote attacker on a reachable network to authenticate to the service without legitimate credentials.

Apple said the bug was fixed through “improved state management,” which suggests an authentication-flow or session-state validation failure rather than a cryptographic break.

The patch was issued for macOS Tahoe 26.6.1, Sequoia 15.7.9, and Sonoma 14.8.9. Practical exposure requires Screen Sharing to be enabled, so the highest-risk systems are those where port 5900 is internet-accessible, typically through a router port-forward, public IP assignment, or hosting-provider setup. Hosts reachable only from an internal network are still potentially exposed, but attackers would have to gain a position on that network.

An attacker could view and control the Mac remotely because that is the function Screen Sharing provides. NCSC says active cases involved attackers gaining root access and installing cryptomining software, specifically for Monero mining.

The criminals likely chose Monero mining because it does not depend on heavily specialized, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), but can be done with any CPU or GPU.

Cryptomining isn’t necessarily the worst an attacker could do. With a root-level compromise an attacker could enable persistence, data theft, credential and key harvesting, deployment of additional malware, and lateral movement.

How to stay safe

Install the update

The best way to protect your Mac is to install the update.

To update macOS on any supported Mac, use the Software Update feature, which Apple designed to work consistently across all recent versions. Here are the steps:

• Click the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of your screen.
• Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions).
• Select General in the sidebar, then click Software Update on the right. On older macOS, just look for Software Update directly.
• Your Mac will check for updates automatically. If updates are available, click Update Now (or Upgrade Now for major new versions) and follow the on-screen instructions. Before you upgrade to macOS Tahoe 26, please read these instructions.
• Enter your administrator password if prompted, then let your Mac finish the update (it might need to restart during this process).
• Make sure your Mac stays plugged in and connected to the internet until the update is done.

Make sure Screen Sharing is disabled

If you can’t update immediately, check whether Screen Sharing is enabled and turn it off if you don’t use it.

1.  Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen.
2. Select System Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click General.
4. Click Sharing on the right; you may need to scroll down.
5. Find Screen Sharing:
   • If the switch is off/grey, it is disabled.
   • If the switch is on/colored, click it to switch it off.

Also check Remote Management on that same Sharing page. It provides another remote-control route and should be off unless the owner knowingly uses it for work or IT support.

Macs need protection too

Malwarebytes Premium Security for Mac stops threats and protects your Mac and personal files from hackers and cybercriminals.

This week on the Lock and Code podcast…

Twenty years ago, a British mathematician named Clive Humby popularized a phrase that came to describe data’s relationship with the entire global economy: “Data is the new oil.”

Pithy as the phrase sounds, it is undeniably true.

Data steers decisions at businesses of every size. Data created entirely new industries built around its capture. And, for a select number of companies, data has produced billions—if not trillions—of dollars in value.

So how is it that, on the dark web, your stolen identity can be purchased for just 95 cents?

That’s what a Malwarebytes researcher found last month after spending 48 hours inside the dark web to investigate cybercrime. Across a variety of forums and directories, he found subscription plans for malware that steals information once implanted on a device. He found guides for deploying social engineering scams. He found people selling their services to build fake websites that trick people into handing over their usernames and passwords. And he found one of the dark web’s most traded commodities—personal data, packaged together about individual people, to help a cybercriminal commit identity fraud.

These packages are called “fullz.” For victims in the United States, a fullz contains a full name, Social Security Number, date of birth, address, and other personal details. That is enough, on its own, for a cybercriminal to potentially open a bogus line of credit, file a fake tax return, access financial accounts, or obtain medical services under someone else’s name.

As we wrote on Malwarebytes Labs:

“For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, a cybercriminal can buy enough information to devastate someone’s financial life.”

It’s the kind of risk that could scare anyone, especially considering the scale behind it. In just the first six months of 2026, Malwarebytes found more than 7,500 compromised data sets on the dark web containing more than 8.4 billion records.

And yet, even today, cybersecurity professionals still get asked why anyone should bother protecting their data.

The public, understandably, are exhausted. With data breaches happening every week—if not every day—cybersecurity can start to feel pointless. With young people unable to build financial security, they start believing that they have nothing worth stealing. And with Big Tech already collecting our every movement, behavior, click, and concern, people understandably feel powerless to fight any kind of data abuse, be it corporate or criminal.

So today’s episode approaches the question from a different direction. This isn’t about why you should protect yourself—plenty of company websites will tell you that, and most of them rely on fear. This is about why hackers want your data in the first place.

Today, on the Lock and Code podcast, host David Ruiz explains how cybercriminals turn a single repeated password into account takeover, how a screenshot of your house from Google Maps became a tool in extortion emails, and why the most benign information about you—an address, an age, one public photo—is often the most useful data a stranger can buy.

Tune in today to listen to the full episode.

Show notes and credits:

Intro Music: “Spellbound” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro Music: “Good God” by Wowa (unminus.com)

Listen up—Malwarebytes doesn’t just talk cybersecurity, we provide it.

Protect yourself from online attacks that threaten your identity, your files, your system, and your financial well-being with our exclusive offer for Malwarebytes Premium for Lock and Code listeners.

Apple is urging users to treat any suspicious FaceTime call or message as untrusted, especially if it involves payments, refunds, password resets, or requests for personal information.

This warning appears in a broader Apple support article about scams that target iPhone and iPad users through social engineering. Apple says attackers may contact people by phone calls, FaceTime, text messages, or emails while pretending to represent a trusted organization.

The advice comes as many users still delay installing security updates, leaving them exposed even after Apple has released security patches.

Over recent months, we’ve seen a familiar pattern: attackers combine convincing Apple‑branded social engineering with known iOS vulnerabilities, then profit from the gap between “patch available” and “patch installed.”

Criminals have been reported making unsolicited FaceTime calls that look like they come from “Apple Support” or a bank, alongside messages disguised as urgent account alerts or refund offers. Once the victim answers or replies, the script is pretty much standard:

• The caller claims there is fraudulent activity or a technical problem.
• They pressure the user to “verify” card details, online banking credentials, or Apple ID information.
• In some cases, they persuade the victim to install remote‑access software or share one‑time passcodes.

Nothing in this process requires malware on the device. The “exploit” is human trust, backed by familiar names, logos, and a real‑time call that feels inherently more legitimate than a text message. That makes FaceTime a useful delivery channel for social engineering, especially since users are used to seeing Apple notifications and support prompts elsewhere in their digital life.

From an attacker’s point of view, combining social engineering with vulnerabilities is attractive. Social engineering can steal your usernames and passwords, while a browser‑side exploit can silently execute malicious code when users visit a booby‑trapped site. Chain those attacks together and the attacker can move from app‑level compromise to full system control. That’s how campaigns like DarkSword operate.

How to stay safe

Apple’s advice is straightforward:

• Don’t trust unexpected calls or texts.
• Never share sensitive information over unsolicited contact.
• Keep your iPhone updated to the latest iOS version.

We’d add:

• Protect your devices with an up-to-date, real-time security solution.
• Contact companies directly through trusted channels. Don’t use contact details provided in an email, text message, or call.
• Use Malwarebytes Scam Guard to determine whether a message is likely to be a scam.
• Be especially suspicious of unexpected FaceTime calls claiming to be from your bank or Apple. These organizations are unlikely to use FaceTime to contact you about serious account issues.

Apple also asks users to report suspicious FaceTime calls:

“If you receive a suspicious FaceTime call (for example, from what looks like a bank or financial institution), email a screenshot of the call information to reportfacetimefraud@apple.com.”

How to update your iPhone or iPad

To check whether you’re running the latest version of iOS or iPadOS:

• Go to Settings > General > Software Update. If an update is available, you’ll be able to download and install it from there.
• Turn on Automatic Updates if you haven’t already. You’ll find it on the same screen. That way, your device can install important security updates as soon as they’re available.

Scammers know more about you than you think. 

Malwarebytes Mobile Security protects you from phishing, scam texts, malicious sites, and more. With real-time AI-powered Scam Guard built right in. 

Download for iOS → Download for Android →