VB Blog

Malicious CCleaner update points to a major weakness in our infrastructure

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 18, 2017

Researchers from Cisco Talos have found that a recent version of the widely used CCleaner tool installed malware on the machine.

Posted by Virus Bulletin on Sep 15, 2017

Though ransomware is far more profitable than using a compromised PC to mine bitcoins, the global distribution of malware means that there are many botnets for which mining is the most efficient way to extract money out of a PC.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 14, 2017

We preview the VB2017 paper by Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman (F5 networks), in which they present a tool to decrypt encrypted parts of malware.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 13, 2017

We preview the VB2017 paper by Marco Romagna and Niek Jan van den Hout (The Hague University of Applied Sciences), in which they thoroughly analyse the motivations and modus operandy of hacktivists.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 13, 2017

Proof-of-concepts for bypasses of security products always sound scary, but how seriously should we take them? VB Editor Martijn Grooten lists three questions one should ask about any such bypass to determine how serious a threat it represents.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 12, 2017

Today, we announce two more 'Small Talks' for the VB2017 programme. In one of them, Neil Schwarzman will discuss the consequences of the GDPR for WHOIS and abuse research, while the other will be hosted by three members of EICAR, who will discuss its work on a trustworthiness strategy and minimum standard.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 11, 2017

From attacks on Ukraine's power grid to web shells, and from car hacking to ransomware: we announce the first nine 'last-minute' papers on the VB2017 programme.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 5, 2017

A lot of vulnerabilities that are discovered are never exploited in the wild. It is still important to patch them though.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 4, 2017

A security researcher found more than 700 million email addresses stored on a server used by a spam botnet, which gives us some insight into what the email lists used by spammers look like.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 4, 2017

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Tyrus Kamau (Euclid Security), who will talk about the state of cybersecurity in Africa, with a particular focus on his home country, Kenya.

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VB2019 paper: Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) analysed in depth

Though active for not much longer than a year, GandCrab had been one of the most successful ransomware operations. In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, McAfee researchers John Fokker and Alexandre Mundo looked at the malware code, its evolution and t…
Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) analysed in depth Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) Though active for not… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-different-ways-cook-crab-gandcrab-ransomware-service-raas-analysed-depth/

VB2016 paper: Diving into Pinkslipbot's latest campaign

Qakbot or Qbot, is a banking trojan that makes the news every once in a while and was the subject of a VB2016 paper by Intel Security researchers Sanchit Karve, Guilherme Venere and Mark Olea. In it, they provided a detailed analysis of the Pinkslipbot/Qa…
Pinkslipbot, also known as Qakbot or Qbot, is a banking trojan that makes the news every once in a while, yet never seems to get the attention of the world's Zbots and Dridexes. I… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/06/vb2016-paper-diving-pinkslipbots-latest-campaign/

Vulnerability turns McAfee's anti-malware solution into open relay

Flaw allows for spam to be sent through customers' PCs.
Flaw allows for spam to be sent through customers' PCs. A vulnerability discovered in McAfee's SaaS for Total Protection, the company's hosted anti-malware solution, effectively… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/vulnerability-turns-mcafee-s-anti-malware-solution-open-relay/

AV-Test.org unveils latest results

Trend Micro achieves pass; Microsoft and McAfee fail to reach certification standards.
Trend Micro achieves pass; Microsoft and McAfee fail to reach certification standards. Independent testing body AV-Test.org has released its latest set of quarterly test results,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/11/av-test-org-unveils-latest-results/

Computer chip giant buys AV giant

Intel becomes new owner of McAfee for the princely sum of $7.8bn
Intel becomes new owner of McAfee for the princely sum of $7.8bnIntel, the world's biggest manufacturer of computer chips, is poised to acquire security giant McAfee - one of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/computer-chip-giant-buys-av-giant/

AV-Test.org issues latest round of testing results

Symantec and Microsoft outdo Trend and McAfee in live tests.
Symantec and Microsoft outdo Trend and McAfee in live tests. Independent testing organisation AV-Test.org has released its latest round of test results in a simplified format,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/av-test-org-issues-latest-round-testing-results/

McAfee offers payments to cover FP cleanup costs

Compensation for faulty update victims could set precedent.
Compensation for faulty update victims could set precedent. Victims of the erroneous McAfee DAT update last month are being offered cash payments to cover costs incurred in fixing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/05/mcafee-offers-payments-cover-fp-cleanup-costs/

Botnets becoming more robust

Zeus botnet used Amazon's in-the-cloud service to control bots.
Zeus botnet used Amazon's in-the-cloud service to control bots. New reports by MessageLabs and McAfee show that botherders have learned a lesson following the take-down of McColo… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/12/botnets-becoming-more-robust/

Anti-spam products do well in VB testing

VB announces anti-spam certification results.
VB announces anti-spam certification results.Virus Bulletin has announced that 12 products earned VBSpam awards in its latest round of comparative anti-spam testing. A total of 14… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/11/anti-spam-products-do-well-vb-testing/

Serious false positive hits users of old McAfee engines

Batch of system files wrongly flagged as malware, current versions not affected.
Batch of system files wrongly flagged as malware, current versions not affected. An update released by McAfee last week resulted in problems around the world, as some vital system… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/serious-false-positive-hits-users-old-mcafee-engines/

McAfee to acquire Solidcore

Whitelisting firm to be assimilated by security giant.
Whitelisting firm to be assimilated by security giant.McAfee has announced the acquisition of whitelisting firm Solidcore in a deal reported to be worth a base rate of $33 million,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/mcafee-acquire-solidcore/

Security holes trouble vendors

Vulnerabilities fixed in McAfee website and Google Chrome; patch expected for Adobe Reader.
Vulnerabilities fixed in McAfee website and Google Chrome; patch expected for Adobe Reader. A range of vulnerabilities have been causing headaches recently for companies… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/security-holes-trouble-vendors/

Banking sector confuses users over online safety

Leftfield AV detection scores used to promote ID theft tool.
Leftfield AV detection scores used to promote ID theft tool. With online banking an increasingly important way of interacting with our banks, the security of online transactions is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/04/banking-sector-confuses-users-over-online-safety/

AV-Comparatives releases latest detection figures

Large collection test shows major improvement from AV giants.
Large collection test shows major improvement from AV giants. Independent testing organisation AV-Comparatives has released its latest bi-annual detection test figures, with 17… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/03/av-comparatives-releases-latest-detection-figures/

McAfee false positive flags Vista component

Innocent file labelled trojan.
Innocent file labelled trojan.McAfee has updated one of its detections after a faulty update led to an integral component of the Windows Vista operating system being falsely… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/10/mcafee-false-positive-flags-vista-component/

McAfee to buy Secure Computing

Acquisition deal valued at $465m.
Acquisition deal valued at $465m.McAfee has announced its official agreement to purchase network security firm Secure Computing Corp. in a deal worth a whopping $465 million. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/09/mcafee-buy-secure-computing/

McAfee buys data loss firm Reconnex

$46 million acquisition announced as strong profit report released.
$46 million acquisition announced as strong profit report released.McAfee has announced its official agreement to purchase privately owned data loss prevention firm Reconnex, in a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/08/mcafee-buys-data-loss-firm-reconnex/

Yahoo! searchers to get McAfee site advice

SiteAdvisor data to help check security of search results.
SiteAdvisor data to help check security of search results. Search engine giant Yahoo! has announced a deal with McAfee to incorporate site security ratings from the firm's… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/05/yahoo-searchers-get-mcafee-site-advice/

Malware going local

Report sees trend toward greater localisation of threats.
Report sees trend toward greater localisation of threats.McAfee's latest Sage report focuses on increased localisation in malware, with spam, phishing and malcode all showing great… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/malware-going-local/

Botnet roasting on an open fire

FBI reports successes of operation Bot Roast; McAfee predicts cyber espionage for 2008.
FBI reports successes of operation Bot Roast; McAfee predicts cyber espionage for 2008. The FBI has revealed that eight individuals have been indicted, pled guilty or been… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/12/botnet-roasting-open-fire/

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