VB Blog

Paying a malware ransom is bad, but telling people never to do it is unhelpful advice

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 26, 2016

The current ransomware plague is one of the worst threats the Internet has seen and it is unlikely to go away any time soon. But telling people to never pay the ransom is unhelpful advice.

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VB2015 paper: VolatilityBot: Malicious Code Extraction Made by and for Security Researchers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 22, 2016

In his VB2015 paper, Martin Korman presented his 'VolatilyBot' tool, which extracts malicious code from packed binaries, leveraging the functionality of the Volatility Framework.

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VB2016 programme announced, registration opened

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 21, 2016

We have announced 37 papers (and four reserve papers) that will be presented at VB2016 in Denver, Colorado, USA in October. Registration for the conference has opened; make sure you register before 1 July to benefit from a 10% early bird discount.

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New tool helps ransomware victims indentify the malware family

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 15, 2016

The people behind the MalwareHunterTeam have released a tool that helps victims of ransomware identify which of more than 50 families has infected their system, something which could help them find a tool to decrypt their files.

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It's fine for vulnerabilities to have names — we just need not to take them too seriously

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 13, 2016

The PR campaign around the Badlock vulnerability backfired when it turned out that the vulnerability wasn't as serious as had been suggested. But naming vulnerabilities can actually be helpful and certainly shouldn't hurt.

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Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Apr 7, 2016

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 month. In August 2000, Denis Zenkin, a self-confessed virus prevalence table junkie, shared his findings following a study of the virus prevalence tables over the preceding few years, allowing him to determine the top ten viruses of the period, the top viruses by type and the viruses of the year.

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Paper: All Your Meetings Are Belong to Us: Remote Code Execution in Apache OpenMeetings

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 30, 2016

Security researcher Andreas Lindh recently found a vulnerability in Apache OpenMeetings that could allow remote code execution on a vulnerable server. Andreas reported the vulnerability to the OpenMeetings developers and, once it had been patched, he wrote up the details.

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

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Mar 24, 2016

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.

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VB2016 Call for Papers Deadline

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 18, 2016

You have until the early hours (GMT) of Monday 21 March to submit an abstract for VB2016! The VB2016 programme will be announced in the first week of April.

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How broken is SHA-1 really?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 15, 2016

SHA-1 collisions may be found in the next few months, but that doesn't mean that fake SHA-1-based certificates will be created in the near future. Nevertheless, it is time for everyone, and those working in security in particular, to move away from outdated hash functions.

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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/

Report: VB100 comparative review on Windows 8.1

40 out of 48 tested products earn VB100 award.
40 out of 48 tested products earn VB100 award. If you follow the security news, you may believe that all you have to worry about are nation states using zero-day vulnerabilities to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/report-comparative-review-windows-8-1/

Out-of-band patch released for all Windows versions

Kerberos bug means one set of credentials suffices to rule them all.
Kerberos bug means one set of credentials suffices to rule them all. If you are a Windows systems administrator, the content of this blog post will (hopefully) not come as a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/out-band-patch-released-all-windows-versions/

VB2014 paper: Optimized mal-ops. Hack the ad network like a boss

Why buying ad space makes perfect sense for those wanting to spread malware.
Why buying ad space makes perfect sense for those wanting to spread malware.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-optimized-mal-ops-hack-ad-network-boss/

Book review: Bulletproof SSL and TLS

Must-read for anyone working with one of the Internet's most important protocols.
Must-read for anyone working with one of the Internet's most important protocols. I was reading Ivan Ristić's book Bulletproof SSL and TLS when rumours started to appear about an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/book-review-bulletproof-ssl-and-tls/

VB2014 paper: Bootkits: past, present & future

Despite better defences, the era of bootkits is certainly not behind us.
Despite better defences, the era of bootkits is certainly not behind us.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-bootkits-past-present-amp-future/

Stuxnet infected Natanz plant via carefully selected targets rather than escape from it

Five initial victims of infamous worm named.
Five initial victims of infamous worm named. Today, as Wired journalist Kim Zetter publishes her book Countdown to Zero Day on Stuxnet, researchers from Kaspersky and Symantec… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/stuxnet-infected-natanz-plant-carefully-selected-targets-rather-escape-it/

VB2014 paper: Apple without a shell - iOS under targeted attack

Developer Enterprise Program recently found to be used by WireLurker.
Developer Enterprise Program recently found to be used by WireLurker.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-apple-without-shell-ios-under-targeted-attack/

VB2014 video: Attack points in health apps & wearable devices - how safe is your quantified self?

Health apps and wearable devices found to make many basic security mistakes.
Health apps and wearable devices found to make many basic security mistakes. "I know a lot of you have a Fitbit device." The geeks attending VB conferences tend to like their… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/video-attack-points-health-apps-amp-wearable-devices-how-safe-your-quantified-self/

Macro malware on the rise again

Users taught that having to enable enhanced security features is no big deal.
Users taught that having to enable enhanced security features is no big deal. When I joined Virus Bulletin almost eight years ago, macro viruses were already a thing of the past,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/macro-malware-rise-again/

VB2014 paper: DMARC - how to use it to improve your email reputation

Terry Zink presents case study in which he describes setting a DMARC policy for Microsoft.
Terry Zink presents case study in which he describes setting a DMARC policy for Microsoft.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-dmarc-how-use-it-improve-your-email-reputation/

WireLurker malware infects iOS devices through OS X

Non-jailbroken devices infected via enterprise provisioning program.
Non-jailbroken devices infected via enterprise provisioning program. Researchers at Palo Alto Networks have published a research paper (PDF) analysing the 'WireLurker' malware that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/wirelurker-malware-infects-ios-devices-through-os-x/

VB2014 Paper: Well, that escalated quickly. From penny-stealing malware to multi-million-dollar heists, a quick overview of the Bitcoin bonanza in the digital era

Santiago Pontiroli takes us on a rollercoaster ride through cryptocurrency land.
Santiago Pontiroli takes us on a rollercoaster ride through cryptocurrency land.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-well-escalated-quickly-penny-stealing-malware-multi-million-dollar-heists-quick-overview-bitcoin-bonanza-digital-era/

November

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/

The VB2014 presentation you never saw. Early launch Android malware: your phone is 0wned

Malicious apps may have more privileges than security software.
Malicious apps may have more privileges than security software. There are many people without whom a Virus Bulletin conference wouldn't be possible: the VB team, the crew from Cue… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/presentation-you-never-saw-early-launch-android-malware-your-phone-0wned/

CVE-2012-0158 continues to be used in targeted attacks

30-month old vulnerability still a popular way to infect systems.
30-month old vulnerability still a popular way to infect systems. If all you have to worry about are zero-day vulnerabilities, you have got things pretty well sorted. Although it… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/cve-2012-0158-continues-be-used-targeted-attacks/

Paper: Invading the core: iWorm's infection vector and persistence mechanism

Malware spreads through infected torrent, then maintains persistence on the system.
Malware spreads through infected torrent, then maintains persistence on the system. A month ago, security firm Dr.Web reported it had discovered a new malware variant targeting Mac… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-invading-core-iworm-s-infection-vector-and-persistence-mechanism/

New IcoScript variant uses Gmail drafts for C&C communication

Switch likely to make modular malware even stealthier.
Switch likely to make modular malware even stealthier. Researchers at Shape Security have found a new variant of the IcoScript RAT that makes use of draft emails stored in Gmail,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/new-icoscript-variant-uses-gmail-drafts-c-amp-c-communication/

VB2014 paper: Hiding the network behind the network. Botnet proxy business model

Cristina Vatamanu and her colleagues describe how botherders keep their C&C servers hidden.
Cristina Vatamanu and her colleagues describe how botherders keep their C&C servers hidden.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-hiding-network-behind-network-botnet-proxy-business-model/

VB2014 paper: Methods of malware persistence on Mac OS X

'KnockKnock' tool made available to the public.
'KnockKnock' tool made available to the public.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the presentations. Today, we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-methods-malware-persistence-mac-os-x/

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