VB Blog

Subtle change could see a reduction in installation of malicious Chrome extensions

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Jun 13, 2018

Google has made a subtle change to its Chrome browser, banning the inline installation of new extensions, thus making it harder for malware authors to trick users into unwittingly installing malicious extensions.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Jun 11, 2018

We publish a paper by researchers from Quick Heal Security Labs in India, who study the EternalBlue and DoublePulsar exploits in full detail.

Posted by Virus Bulletin on Jun 1, 2018

Several VB2018 papers deal explicitly or implicitly with threats that have been attributed to North Korean actors.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 31, 2018

The domain of the little-used SpamCannibal DNS blacklist had expired, resulting in it effectively listing every single IP address.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 30, 2018

Researchers at IBM X-Force have discovered MnuBot, a banking trojan targeting users in Brazil, which is noteworthy for using SQL Server for command and control communication.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 24, 2018

The 68-byte EICAR test file plays as important a role today as it did 19 years ago. In this week's Throwback Thursday we look back at a VB99 conference paper in which Randy Abrams described how this 'miracle tool' worked and how it could be used.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 23, 2018

A new piece of cryptocurrency-mining malware on macOS has been found to use the popular XMRig miner.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 22, 2018

CDN provider Cloudflare reports an increase in DDoS attacks targeting layer 7 and focusing on exhausting server resources rather than sending large volumes of data. This fits in a wider trend.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 15, 2018

Through fake social media accounts, users were tricked into installing an Android application that was actually a mobile version of the FinFisher spyware.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on May 9, 2018

The Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet has received an update to make its infection persist on infected devices beyond a restart.

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Latest VBWeb report describes current state of the web-based threat landscape

Today we released the Winter 2020 VBWeb report, detailing the performance of web security products against live web threats and looking at the current state of the web-based threat landscape.
VBWeb Comparative Review - Winter 2020 Read the report (HTML) Download the report (PDF) If you are interested in having your product tested either publicly or privately, or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2020/01/latest-vbweb-report-describes-current-state-web-based-threat-landscape/

Virus Bulletin says a fond farewell and thank you to Martijn Grooten

As VB Editor Martijn Grooten steps down from his role to move on to new challenges, the team wish him a fond farewell and the very best of luck in his future endeavours.
Thirteen years ago, VB was searching for a web developer to join the very small team based in Oxfordshire, UK. A CV came in from one Martijn Grooten, a former Ph.D. student in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/virus-bulletin-says-fond-farewell-and-thank-you-martijn-grooten/

Job vacancy at VB: Security Evangelist

Virus Bulletin is recruiting for a person to be the public face of the company
Virus Bulletin is a small company with a largely remote team based all over Europe that is placed at the heart of the IT security industry. Through its product testing, annual… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/job-vacancy-vb-security-evangelist/

VB tests the web security products that play an important role in fending off web-based threats

The web continues to be a major infection vector for malware and credential-stealing threats. In the VBWeb tests, we measure products' ability to block such threats and certify products that perform a good job at doing so.
The web continues to be a major infection vector for individuals and organisations alike. Though the number of drive-by download attacks (often through exploit kits) is down from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb-tests-web-security-products-play-important-role-fending-web-based-threats/

Virus Bulletin researcher discovers new Lord exploit kit

Still in-development kit thus far only targets Flash Player vulnerabilities
The number of active exploit kits is very small: the recently published summer 2019 edition of Malwarebytes' quarterly round-up lists the seven then known active exploit kits. To… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/virus-bulletin-researcher-discovers-new-lord-exploit-kit/

Subscribe to the relaunched Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter

Subscribe to the re-launched Virus Bulletin eNews Newsletter to receive regular updates on the latest threat intelligence sources directly in your inbox.
Today, we relaunched the Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter. The newsletter provides weekly updates of what is happening both at Virus Bulletin and in the wider security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/subscribe-relaunched-virus-bulletin-enews-newsletter/

VB2017 paper: The life story of an IPT - Inept Persistent Threat actor

At VB2017 in Madrid, Polish security researcher and journalist Adam Haertlé presented a paper about a very inept persistent threat. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Adam's presentation.
Last Wednesday, Belgium-based Polish hacker Thomasz T. was arrested during a visit to his home country. Thomasz is believed to be the author of the Polski, Vortex, and Flotera… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2017-paper-life-story-ipt-inept-persistent-threat-actor/

Throwback Thursday: CARO: A personal view

This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts. As a founding member of CARO, Fridrik Skulason was well placed, in August 1994, to shed some light on t…
This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts which, this year, is themed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/throwback-thursday-caro-personal-view/

Throwback Thursday: Tools of the DDoS Trade

As DDoS attacks become costlier to fix and continue to increase in both number and diversity, we turn back the clock to 2000, when Aleksander Czarnowski took a look at the DDoS tools of the day.
According to a recent report by analytics firm Neustar (summarized in a Threatpost blog post here), DDoS attacks are on the increase, are taking longer to detect, and are costing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/throwback-thursday-tools-ddos-trade/

Virus Bulletin says a fond farewell to John Hawes

As VB's COO John Hawes moves on to new challenges, the team wish him a fond farewell and good luck in his future endeavours.
Ten years ago, when I joined the very small Virus Bulletin team, the risk of computer viruses accidentally spreading to millions of PCs was still considered very real. Hence my… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/03/virus-bulletin-says-fond-farewell-john-hawes/

Throwback Thursday: Once a researcher...

VB was saddened to learn this week of the passing of one of the pioneers of the AV industry, Ross Greenberg. This Throwback Thursday we look back at an interview with Ross in November 1995.
VB was saddened to learn this week of the passing of one of the pioneers of the AV industry, Ross M. Greenberg. Ross Greenberg, author of Flushot, Virex PC, and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/02/throwback-thursday-once-researcher/

Throwback Thursday: A troubled world

In early 1991, the world was a troubled place and conflict and violence were being reported globally on a daily basis. With this as a backdrop, the world of "indiscriminate" computer viruses which "victimise in a random and unpredictable manner" seemed re…
In early 1991, the world was a troubled place – President George H. W. Bush had just announced the start of military Operation Desert Storm and conflict and violence were being… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/02/throwback-thursday-troubled-world/

Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.
Security is doing well. Not necessarily the security of your personal devices, corporate networks and critical infrastructure, but as an area to work in, IT security seems to be a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/05/looking-job-or-fill-vacancy-virus-bulletin-here-help/

Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, recording the number of incidents of each virus reported to VB in the preceding mo…
The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, each… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/04/throwback-thursday-number-beasts1/

Throwback Thursday: 'In the Beginning was the Word...'

Word and Excel’s internal file formats used to be something in which few were interested – until macro viruses came along and changed all that. In 1996, Andrew Krukov provided an overview of the new breed of viruses.
Microsoft has recently introduced a new feature to Office 2016: the ability to block macros,in an attempt to curb the spread of macro malware, which is once again on the rise.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/03/throwback-thursday-beginning-was-word/

Virus Bulletin publishes first web filter test report

After a lot of preparation, Virus Bulletin is proud to have published the first "VBWeb" comparative web filter test report, in which products' ability to block web-based malware and drive-by downloads was tested. Fortinet's FortiGuard appliance was the fi…
Virus Bulletin has been testing security products for more than 18 years, and in recent years, we have had many requests from product developers asking us to test their web… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/02/virus-bulletin-published-first-corporate-web-filter-test-report/

Throwback Thursday: Peter-II - Three Questions of The Sphinx

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1993, when an ordinary memory-resident master boot sector virus spiced things up with a bit of pop trivia.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1993, when an ordinary memory-resident master boot sector virus spiced things up with a bit of pop trivia. Over recent years we have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/01/throwback-thursday-peter-ii-three-questions-sphinx/

Throwback Thursday: I say Virus, You say Trojan

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1998 — a time when anti-virus vendors avoided tackling non-replicating trojans, worms, jokes and corrupted files.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1998 — a time when anti-virus vendors avoided tackling non-replicating trojans, worms, jokes and corrupted files. Today, the idea of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/01/throwback-thursday-i-say-virus-you-say-trojan/

Throwback Thursday: A View from the Lab

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'A View from the Lab'.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'A View from the Lab'. According to its website, the AV-TEST Institute currently registers over 390,000 new malicious programs… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/12/throwback-thursday-view-lab/

Throwback Thursday: Legal attempts to reduce spam. A UK perspective

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to November 2003, when spam was such a hot topic that VB decided to launch a dedicated 'VB Spam Supplement'.
This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to November 2003, when spam was such a hot topic that VB decided to launch a dedicated 'VB Spam Supplement'. While, today, spam is a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/11/throwback-thursday-legal-attempts-reduce-spam-uk-perspective/

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