VB Blog

Paper: New Keylogger on the Block

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 5, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Sophos researcher Gabor Szappanos takes a look at the KeyBase keylogger, sold as a commercial product and popular among cybercriminals who use it in Office exploit kits.

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BSides Denver to take place the day after VB2016

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2016

VB2016, the 26th International Virus Bulletin conference, is an excellent reason to go to Denver, Colorado in the first week of October. But there is another reason to come to Denver: BSides Denver, which will take place the day after VB2016, on Saturday 8 October 2016.

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VB2015 paper: DDoS Trojan: A Malicious Concept that Conquered the ELF Format

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 13, 2016

In their VB2015 paper, Peter Kálnai and Jaromír Hořejší look at the current state of DDoS trojans forming covert botnets on unsuspecting systems. The paper provides a technical analysis of the most important malware families, focusing on infection methods, dynamic behaviour, C&C communication, obfuscation techniques, advanced methods of persistence and stealth, and elimination of rivals.

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Throwback Thursday: Hyppönen, that Data Fellow / Finnish Sprayer

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 2, 2016

This week, well known and universally respected industry guru Mikko Hyppönen celebrates his 25th anniversary of working at F-Secure (formerly known as Data Fellows). VB takes a look back in the archives at two articles published in 1994: an "insight" into the life and work of the then rising star of the anti-virus world, and a virus analysis penned by the man himself.

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VB2015 paper: Economic Sanctions on Malware

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 1, 2016

Financial pressure can be a proactive and potentially very effective tool in making our computer ecosystems safer. By cleverly employing various trust metrics and technologies such as digital signing, watermarking, and public-key infrastructure in strategically selected places, we can encourage good behaviours and punish bad ones. In his VB2015 paper, Igor Muttik analyses and gives examples of technologies (certificates, credentials, etc.) to de-incentivize bad behaviours in several ecosystems (Windows, Android, iOS).

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Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 26, 2016

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.

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Throwback Thursday: One_Half: The Lieutenant Commander?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 26, 2016

In October 1994, a new multi-partite virus appeared, using some of the techniques developed by the Dark Avenger in Commander_Bomber. As if this were not enough, the One_Half virus could also encrypt vital parts of the fixed disk. Eugene Kaspersky provided a detailed analysis.

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Advertisements on Blogspot sites lead to support scam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2016

Support scam pop-ups presented through malicious advertisements show that, next to vulnerable end points, gullible users remain an easy source of money for online criminals.

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To make Tor work better on the web, we need to be honest about it

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 6, 2016

Many websites put barriers in front of visitors who use the Tor network. If we want to make the web more accessible through Tor, we need to be honest about why this is done, rather than cry wolf about a dislike for privacy, Martijn Grooten says.

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Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

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You are your own threat model

For most people, the biggest security threat is that of themselves doing something they shouldn't do.
For most people, the biggest security threat is that of themselves doing something they shouldn't do. Last week, Microsoft wrote about the return of macro malware where, now that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/05/you-are-your-own-threat-model/

May

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/05/

Report: six anti-virus solutions pass annual Linux test

Clean sweep of passes in VB100 test on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Clean sweep of passes in VB100 test on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 2015 will yet again not be the 'Year of the Linux Desktop', yet behind the scenes' Linux plays an important role in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/05/report-six-anti-virus-solutions-pass-annual-linux-test/

POODLE is the brown M&Ms of security

Just because it won't be exploited, doesn't mean you shouldn't patch it.
Just because it won't be exploited, doesn't mean you shouldn't patch it. There is a famous story about the rock band Van Halen whose lists of requirements when performing a show… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/poodle-brown-m-amp-ms-security/

Throwback Thursday: Regina v Christopher Pile: The Inside Story & Off with his Head!

This Throwback Thursday, we bring you not one but two (related) pieces from the archives as VB heads back to 1996 to look at events surrounding the issuing of the UK's first custodial sentence for writing and distributing computer viruses.
This Throwback Thursday, we bring you not one but two (related) pieces from the archives as VB heads back to 1996 to look at events surrounding the issuing of the UK's first… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/throwback-thursday-regina-v-christopher-pile-inside-story-amp-his-head/

Report: 15 solutions achieve VBSpam award

Test process also uncovers job spam illustrative of trend.
Test process also uncovers job spam illustrative of trend. Last week, we published our 36th comparative anti-spam test. All but one of the 16 participating full solutions achieved… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/report-15-solutions-achieve-vbspam-award/

Throwback Thursday: Through the Administrator's Eye

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'Through the Administrator's Eye'.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'Through the Administrator's Eye'. Over the last couple of years, the 'Throwback Thursday' trend has taken the Internet by… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/throwback-thursday-through-administrator-s-eye/

VB2015 offer for new security companies

Write an article for the Bulletin, get a half-price ticket for the conference.
Write an article for the Bulletin, get a half-price ticket for the conference. Things are going well for the security industry. That may, of course, be because of the poor state of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/offer-new-security-companies/

Registration for VB2015 has opened

Early bird discounts available for registrations made before 30 June.
Early bird discounts available for registrations made before 30 June. Today, we have opened registration for VB2015, the 25th Virus Bulletin International Conference. 'VB' is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/registration-has-opened/

Ross Anderson awarded BCS Lovelace Medal

Cambridge professor to deliver VB2015 keynote.
Cambridge professor to deliver VB2015 keynote. Yesterday, the British Computer Society (BCS) announced that the 2015 Lovelace Medal has been awarded to Prof. Ross Anderson. Named… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/ross-anderson-awarded-bcs-lovelace-medal/

Does it matter if my banking password is 'Prague'?

Users do choose weak passwords, but they aren't as big a problem as we think.
Users do choose weak passwords, but they aren't as big a problem as we think. This week, I spent a few days at the Cyber Security Summit Financial Services conference in Prague,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/does-it-matter-if-my-banking-password-prague/

Throwback Thursday: The Unbearable Lightness of Testing

VB gets in on the Throwback Thursday act, delving into the archives.
VB gets in on the Throwback Thursday act, delving into the archives. Over the last couple of years, the 'Throwback Thursday' trend has taken the Internet by storm, with social… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/throwback-thursday-unbearable-lightness-testing/

VB2014 paper: Swipe away, we're watching you

Hong Kei Chan and Liang Huang describe the various aspects and the evolution of point-of-sale malware.
Hong Kei Chan and Liang Huang describe the various aspects and the evolution of point-of-sale malware.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/paper-swipe-away-we-re-watching-you/

Virus Bulletin announces two VB2015 keynotes

Ross Anderson and Costin Raiu to deliver keynote addresses at 25th Virus Bulletin conference.
Ross Anderson and Costin Raiu to deliver keynote addresses at 25th Virus Bulletin conference. Two days after we published the programme for VB2015, we are excited to announce that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/announces-two-keynotes/

Google 'suspends' CNNIC from Chrome's certificate store

Chinese certificate authority told to re-apply.
Chinese certificate authority told to re-apply. When a web client, such as a browser, attempts to make an HTTPS connection, it needs to know that no man-in-the-middle attack is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/google-suspends-cnnic-chrome-s-certificate-store/

Volatile Cedar campaign - cyber espionage isn't just for large nation states

Details of malware to be discussed at VB2015.
Details of malware to be discussed at VB2015. Researchers at Check Point have revealed details of a cyber-espionage campaign, dubbed 'Volatile Cedar', that has been active since at… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/volatile-cedar-campaign-cyber-espionage-isn-t-just-large-nation-states/

April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/04/

VB2015 conference programme announced

From drones to elephants: an exciting range of topics will be covered in Prague.
From drones to elephants: an exciting range of topics will be covered in Prague. In six months' time, security researchers from around the world will gather in Prague for the 25th… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/03/conference-programme-announced/

Paper: a timeline of mobile botnets

Ruchna Nigam provides an overview of more than 60 mobile malware families.
Ruchna Nigam provides an overview of more than 60 mobile malware families. The rise of mobile malware is still a relatively recent thing, with the first actual mobile botnets not… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/03/paper-timeline-mobile-botnets/

Paper: Dylib hijacking on OS X

Patrick Wardle shows how OS X is also vulnerable to once common Windows attacks.
Patrick Wardle shows how OS X is also vulnerable to once common Windows attacks. A few years ago, DLL hijacking on Windows was really hot, despite the fact that the concept had… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/03/paper-dylib-hijacking-os-x/

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