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.

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Paper: EternalBlue: a prominent threat actor of 2017–2018

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.

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'North Korea' a hot subject among VB2018 talks

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.

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Expired domain led to SpamCannibal's blacklist eating the whole world

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.

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MnuBot banking trojan communicates via SQL server

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.

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Throwback Thursday: Giving the EICAR test file some teeth

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.

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XMRig used in new macOS cryptominer

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.

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Tendency for DDoS attacks to become less volumetric fits in a wider trend

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.

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Turkish Twitter users targeted with mobile FinFisher spyware

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.

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Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet adds persistence

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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VB2014 paper: Duping the machine - malware strategies, post sandbox detection

James Wyke looks at malware that takes extra steps to frustrate researchers.
James Wyke looks at malware that takes extra steps to frustrate researchers.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing VB2014 conference… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-duping-machine-malware-strategies-post-sandbox-detection/

Microsoft no longer publishes advance notifications for its Patch Tuesdays

Company unhappy with Google going full disclosure on privilege escalation vulnerability.
Company unhappy with Google going full disclosure on privilege escalation vulnerability. Tomorrow is the second Tuesday of the month and, as most people reading this blog will… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/microsoft-no-longer-publishes-advance-notifications-its-patch-tuesdays/

VB2014 Paper: Attack surface analysis of Tizen devices

Irfan Asrar looks at the security of the operating system used in many IoT devices.
Irfan Asrar looks at the security of the operating system used in many IoT devices.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing VB2014… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-attack-surface-analysis-tizen-devices/

VB2014 paper: Unveiling the kernel: rootkit discovery using selective automated kernel memory differencing

Ahmed Zaki and Benjamin Humphrey describe a system they built for the automated detection of rootkit behaviour.
Ahmed Zaki and Benjamin Humphrey describe a system they built for the automated detection of rootkit behaviour.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-unveiling-kernel-rootkit-discovery-using-selective-automated-kernel-memory-differencing/

New VB100 and VBSpam test results published

See which anti-malware and anti-spam solutions achieved certification.
See which anti-malware and anti-spam solutions achieved certification. Shortly before the Christmas holidays, we published a new VB100 anti-malware test report as well as a new… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/new-and-vbspam-test-results-published/

Virus Bulletin wishes you a great 2015

See you in Prague - and on the Internet!
See you in Prague - and on the Internet! 2014 was an exciting year for Virus Bulletin: we made all of our content free, ran a successful and well-attended conference in Seattle,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/wishes-you-great-2015/

January

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/

2015

Latest news from the anti-virus industry provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
NewsCall for Papers: VB2016 DenverVB seeks submissions for the 26th Virus Bulletin Conference. 22 December 2015VB2015 video: Making a dent in Russian mobile banking… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/

Conference review: Botconf 2014

Second edition of 'botnet fighting conference' another great success.
Second edition of 'botnet fighting conference' another great success. I had been looking forward to the second edition of the Botconf conference ever since I came back from the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/conference-review-botconf-2014/

Call for Papers: VB2015 Prague

VB seeks submissions for the 25th Virus Bulletin Conference.
VB seeks submissions for the 25th Virus Bulletin Conference.Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present papers at VB2015, which will take place 30 September… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/call-papers-prague/

Book review: Countdown to Zero Day

Kim Zetter's book on Stuxnet is a must-read for anyone interested in malware - or in 21st century geopolitics.
Kim Zetter's book on Stuxnet is a must-read for anyone interested in malware - or in 21st century geopolitics. There is a tendency among the media to call every hack 'advanced', to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/book-review-countdown-zero-day/

Virus Bulletin announces platinum sponsors for VB2015

More sponsorship opportunities available.
More sponsorship opportunities available. While the opening of VB2015 in Prague is still more than nine months away, we have already started with the preparations for what will be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/announces-platinum-sponsors/

VB2014 paper: Smart home appliance security and malware

Jeongwook Oh demonstrates how to hack a Samsung smart TV.
Jeongwook Oh demonstrates how to hack a Samsung smart TV.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the presentations.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/paper-smart-home-appliance-security-and-malware/

Virus Bulletin is hiring

VB seeks a Perl Developer / Security Engineer.
VB seeks a Perl Developer / Security Engineer. 2014 has been an exciting year for Virus Bulletin: we went through some personnel changes, made all of our content freely available,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/hiring/

December

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/

Conference report: VB2014

The biggest and broadest ranging Virus Bulletin conference ever was a great success.
The biggest and broadest ranging Virus Bulletin conference ever was a great success. There is a Dutch expression that says that you shouldn't trust a butcher who judges his own… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/conference-report/

VB2014 paper: Labelling spam through the analysis of protocol patterns

What do your IP packet sizes say about whether you're a spammer?
What do your IP packet sizes say about whether you're a spammer?Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-labelling-spam-through-analysis-protocol-patterns/

Detekt tool searches PCs for traces of surveillance spyware

Second opinion essential in circumstances under which likely victims operate.
Second opinion essential in circumstances under which likely victims operate. Last week, the release of the free 'Detekt' tool was announced. Developed by Claudio Guarnieri and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/detekt-tool-searches-pcs-traces-surveillance-spyware/

Multi-staged, modular Regin tool enables stealthy surveillance

Nation state likely behind campaign that goes back many years.
Nation state likely behind campaign that goes back many years. Few terms are misused in a security context as often as the term 'advanced', perhaps in part because the industry… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/multi-staged-modular-regin-tool-enables-stealthy-surveillance/

VB2014 paper: Sweeping the IP space: the hunt for evil on the Internet

Dhia Mahjoub explains how the topology of the AS graph can be used to uncover hotspots of maliciousness.
Dhia Mahjoub explains how the topology of the AS graph can be used to uncover hotspots of maliciousness.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-sweeping-ip-space-hunt-evil-internet/

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