VB2019 paper: Never before had Stierlitz been so close to failure (or: what is a Soviet super-spy doing in a popular bundleware for Mac?)

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 27, 2019

Over the years, many ‘potentially unwanted applications’ have plagued macOS in the same way they have plagued other platforms. Though anti-virus isn’t ubiquitous on Macs, detecting such PUAs usually isn’t a difficult problem.

However, there are exceptions. One such exception is a popular yet unnamed piece of ‘bundleware’ that was analysed by Sophos researcher Sergei Shevchenko in a paper presented at VB2019 in London. The bundleware performs many obfuscation and anti-analysis techniques that are typical of malware and is used to download other software on systems on which it is installed.

schema_engine.png
Today we publish Sergei's paper in both HTML and PDF format. We have also uploaded the recording of his presentation at VB2019 in London to our YouTube channel.

VB2019-conference-paper.jpgNever before had Stierlitz been so close to failure (or: what is a Soviet super-spy doing in a popular bundleware for Mac?)

Read the paper (HTML)

Download the paper (PDF)

 

 

 

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.