An analysis based on the latest ESET Threat Reports reveals critical changes in the infostealer ecosystem: Although global detections decreased by 18% in the second half of 2025, attacks are now more sophisticated.

The use of artificial intelligence and new distribution models are redefining risk for businesses and citizens throughout Latin America. “Infostealers remain a favorite tool of cybercriminals because they allow them to steal large volumes of credentials and sensitive information silently. Although we saw a decrease in the number of detections last year, we also observed an evolution in their sophistication, with better-targeted campaigns and the use of new technologies to optimize attacks,” says David González, Cybersecurity Specialist at ESET Latin America.

Researchers at this company, a global leader in cybersecurity, analyzed the evolution of malware, specifically this type designed to steal sensitive information such as passwords, banking data, and browser history. With the discontinuation of Agent Tesla, other families like Formbook and SnakeStealer have taken the lead in information theft.

This information is of relevant interest to both experts and advanced users, as well as those with basic knowledge who are undergoing preventative education and training.

Local radar alert: the threats setting the trend in our region

According to ESET telemetry, these are the malware families with the greatest impact that users in Latin America should closely monitor:

– Formbook (Win/Formbook). This was the most identified family globally at the end of 2025, accounting for 17.3% of total detections, primarily distributed through phishing campaigns.

– Lumma Stealer (Win/Spy.LummaStealer). Responsible for massive attacks, especially targeting users in Mexico, focused on stealing credentials and data stored in browsers.

– Agent Tesla (MSIL/Spy.AgentTesla). Despite a slowdown in its development, it continues to be widely distributed through malware downloaders such as CloudEyE (GuLoader).

– NGate / PhantomCard (Android/Spy.NGate). A mobile spyware threat primarily targeting the Brazilian banking ecosystem, with the ability to steal contacts and card data.

– Spy.Banker_(JS/Spy.Banker). JavaScript-based Trojans that mainly affect users of financial services and have a global detection rate of approximately 9.5%.

How are these threats distributed to carry out attacks?

The main infection vectors include: Phishing and targeted spam, with malicious attachments that simulate invoices or orders. ClickFix, a social engineering technique that displays fake system errors or prompts users to activate software to make it fully functional or unlock new features in the paid version; in both cases, the goal is to convince the user to execute malicious commands. Malware downloaders, such as CloudEyE (GuLoader), which experienced strong growth during the second half of 2025. Fraudulent websites that impersonate official stores like Google Play to distribute applications.

Digital Survival Guide: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Information Today

Latin America has become a key target for cybercriminals. Don’t ignore these recommendations; they are essential tools to avoid becoming the next victim.

• Strengthen your credentials: It is vital to improve the protection of your passwords and use early threat detection methods.
• Beware of “ClickFix”: Don’t fall for fake system errors that prompt you to run malicious commands to “activate” software.
• Mobile security: Strengthen security in mobile environments and be extremely cautious with payment technologies like NFC, which are increasingly used in financial attacks.
• Verify your downloads: Avoid websites that impersonate official stores like Google Play, as they are common vectors for distributing fraudulent applications.

ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity by visiting: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/.

For other useful preventative information, also available in Venezuela:  https://www.eset.com/ve/, and on their social media channels @eset_ve. Also on Instagram  (@esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

With information and reference image provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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Communication today takes place almost entirely through messaging apps. This increases the likelihood of becoming a victim of hacking, account theft, credential and asset theft, or extortion, making enhanced digital security essential.

End-to-end encryption minimizes the impact of cyberattacks that could lead to data theft. This tool can be optimized with applications that encrypt all messages and calls, blocking the excessive collection of metadata such as location and allowing users to control their data with features like self-destructing messages and two-factor authentication.

Of course, it’s vital not to share sensitive information, since, as we know, even “secure apps can be vulnerable to risks like phishing or malware.”

What else can users do? One of the expert recommendations is to look for features like disappearing messages or optional encrypted backups. Also, PIN/biometric protection is important, as is regularly updating apps to increase protection against new threats.

Likewise, it’s ideal to stay informed, read, and attend workshops or seminars on phishing, malware, online advertising, secure e-commerce, screen lock and configuration mechanisms, and other related topics.

M.Pino

With information from specialized media, social networks, and news agencies

(Reference image source: Hal Gatewood on Unsplash)                  

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Elon Musk announced that he plans to implement a “small monthly payment” for all users who use the social network X (former Twitter) as a measure to try to eliminate “bots” (robots) from the platform.

The owner of the social network continues to look for ways to stop spam and fight against the use of bots that alter the interaction between users and hinder conversation.

In this sense, in order to combat the “huge armies of bots”, Elon Musk shared his intention to make X a payment site for all users who, according to his plans, will have to make a “small monthly payment.”

This was said by the magnate in an interview with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, shared through the social network.

In this conversation, in addition to discussing various topics related to Artificial Intelligence, Musk shared his plans to convert X into a payment platform.

In addition, the payment system will be different from the X Premium subscription (formerly Twitter Blue), since users who have this version of the social network will continue with the same advantages in their account, such as access to X Pro (TweetDeck ) or the ability to create longer posts.

Taken and with information from El Sumario

(Referential image source: BoliviaInteligente, Unsplash)

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The social network Twitter announced this weekend that it will ban accounts that promote certain rival digital platforms for free on it, as reported by the Twitter Support account this Sunday.

In a thread of tweets, Twitter said it will remove “accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content containing links or usernames,” citing the following: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post.

Posts from the Twitter Support account are no longer available, though you can still see the notifications that were implemented in place of the removed tweets from some affected users, leading to the ‘Notices on Twitter’ page and its meaning’ of the Help Center of the social network.

Basically, this new rule would result in the deletion of an account or a publication that was linked to the user’s on one of the prohibited platforms, which they usually use to spread their work on different social networks. Or in the case of Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, their own profiles, where they also communicate changes in the service, news or answer questions to users. On the other hand, they would be understood as a promotion of their services, as they collect in Mashable.

However, and in response to user complaints, the current executive director of the company, Elon Musk, has temporarily withdrawn this ban, since there are users who do not link the accounts of other social networks to promote them, but rather as part of the diffusion of his own work, not wanting to rival Twitter.

Given this situation, Musk has stated that the new policy “will adjust to the suspension of accounts only when the ‘main’ purpose of that account is the promotion of competitors, which essentially falls under the no spam rule”, and has anticipated that “there will be a vote on major policy changes.”

Source: dpa

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YouTube has announced that it is rolling out a feature that will notify users who have violated its community guidelines by making abusive or ‘spam’ comments on videos, who will be penalized for disregarding these warnings by blocking their ability to comment during a period of 24 hours.

The company hopes to stop the distribution of false information on the platform, an action that it has initiated after analyzing the concerns and suggestions of content creators with YouTube accounts.

With the aim of ending these problems, it has announced that it is working on improving its automated detection systems and machine learning models to identify and eliminate ‘spam’ in the comments section of videos.

During this process, YouTube has managed to remove more than 110 million ‘spam’ comments during the first six months of this year. Likewise, the company has stressed that, as the tactics of ‘spammers’ change, its ‘machine learning’ tools take a new direction to detect their fraudulent activities.

On the other hand, improvements have been made in the detection of ‘spambots’, that is, in computer applications designed to send any type of ‘spam’ automatically and massively, to keep them out of YouTube live chats.

YouTube will penalize “spammers”

YouTube will be in charge of analyzing, detecting and eliminating those comments that are considered ‘spam’ or abusive, to whose authors it will send notifications so that they can reconsider their behavior on this service.

In case they continue to share comments of this type, YouTube has indicated that they may receive a sanction and be temporarily unable to comment for up to 24 hours. “Our tests have shown that these warnings or waiting times reduce the likelihood that users will leave infringing comments again,” the company added in the statement.

It should be remembered that this notification will only be available for comments written in English, but he hopes to roll it out to more languages ​​in the coming months. YouTube has also recognized that it is not a perfect system and that it can detect legitimate comments and register them as negative. In that case, you have encouraged users to report that an error has occurred.

Source: dpa

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LinkedIn has introduced new tools for automatic detection of unwanted messages or ‘spam’, along with two tabs that classify them according to the learning algorithm that has indicated whether they are legitimate messages or not.

The ‘Focused’ button will be introduced in the inbox of the Messages section of the platform, for relevant messages of interest to users, while the rest will be saved in ‘Others’.

The company has not detailed when it will implement this feature, but it has clarified that it will be optional, so that it can be activated or deactivated according to the needs of the users.

In order to carry out this task, LinkedIn will use an automatic learning system that will classify these messages and automatically detect those that are ‘spam’ or unwanted, according to media such as TechCrunch.

The platform has commented that every second, a total of 21 direct messages (inMails) are sent with different job opportunities or vacancies. These may be mixed with other messages and, therefore, the inbox may overwhelm. For this reason, he believes that this new tool seeks to improve the experience on the platform, both for workers and recruiters.

This ‘online’ job search service has also confirmed that messages considered ‘spam’ will include a button to inform the platform of an inappropriate message.

As TechCrunch has verified, this functionality is being tested in small groups, although the company has indicated that it will be rolling out this functionality globally soon.

Source: dpa

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Hackers enter Google cloud accounts to mine cryptocurrencies. The internet giant recently published a report on “Google’s threat horizon”, where it points out its concern about the use of cloud accounts that have been hacked to mine cryptocurrencies.

According to what was disseminated in the report: “Malicious actors have been observed mining cryptocurrencies in compromised cloud instances.” Noting that “of the 50 recent examples, 86 % of the cases showed that hackers were mining cryptocurrencies with the accounts.”

The report published by Google’s Cybersecurity Action team attempts to meet two fundamental objectives: the first is “profit making” and the second is related to “traffic pumping“.

With this document the internet leading company tries to provide actionable information that allows organizations to assert that their cloud environments are better protected.

The document also refers to other registered cyber threats such as: malware, hosting of unauthorized content on the Internet, spam and the launch of DDoS bots.

Hackers broadcast live

The group responsible for making the report on Google’s Threat Analysis, last month raised the alarms by warning about the presence of hackers in YouTube accounts to spread cryptocurrency scams.

The representatives of the technology company pointed out that “the name of the channel, the image of the profile and the content were replaced by the brand of the cryptocurrency to impersonate large technology companies or cryptocurrency exchange.”

In addition, they highlighted that the hackers made live broadcasts where they offered gifts in “cryptocurrencies in exchange for the first contributions.” Google pointed out that hackers were fluent in the Russian language.

M. Rodríguez

Source: decrypt.co

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The technology giant announced a new update called Link Spam Update, which will be deployed for the next two weeks, with the aim of fighting spam links. Some of these updates from Google will be affecting the positioning of the websites.

According to Duy Nguyen, Google Search Quality Analyst, the new update will be more effective in the fight against spam webs because it will incorporate an expansion of its reach, managing to identify and cancel this type of links through more website and in different languages.

Links are one of the factors used by the technology company to evaluate the relevance of the content for its positioning in the results. In addition, it is a means by which owners can monetize their websites or blogs, which is why maintaining proper use of these tools is very important.

This update supposes a “reinforcement in the search algorithm to be able to determine what kind of sites are carrying out this type of inappropriate behavior and, once identified, take action on these actions”, Nguyen explains.

He detailed the best practices to carry out the incorporation of affiliate links, sponsors or third-party publications, highlighted that affiliate links, whether generated manually or dynamically, should be qualified as rel = “sponsored.”

Sponsor links should also be specified by rel = “sponsored.” “These, along with affiliate links, comprise the main source of monetization within this strategy.” Regarding third-party publications, posts written on behalf of another website to which the user is directed, it is necessary to identify them with the value of rel = “nofollow.”

According to Nguyen, the pages that are identified will not suffer a penalty, such as its closure. However, their positioning will be corrected by disregarding the links presented, which could lead to a drop in the ranking.

M. Rodríguez

Source: marketing4ecommerce

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The social network TikTok has introduced two new functions to give more control to its publications with which users can filter the comments, so that they are only made public if they are approved before, and has also introduced notifications inviting users to reconsider negative comments.

The ‘Filter all comments’ function allows creators to decide which comments will appear on their videos, as reported by TikTok in a statement sent to Europa Press.

When the tool is enabled, comments will not be made public unless approved by the post creator using the new comment management system. This functionality is based on the current comment control tool that allows users to filter spam and offensive comments, as well as specific keywords.

TikTok “is committed to continuing to develop tools that promote a conversation based on respect among community members,” as the statement points out. And for this reason it has introduced notifications to users who write negative comments.

Thanks to this new feature, people will be asked to reconsider posting a comment that may be considered unkind or inappropriate. It will also remind users of the Community Rules and allow them to edit their comments before sharing.

Source: dpa

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