VB Blog

Alleged author of creepy FruitFly macOS malware arrested

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 11, 2018

A 28-year old man from Ohio has been arrested on suspicion of having created the mysterious FruitFly malware that targeted macOS and used it to spy on its victims.

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The threat and security product landscape in 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 10, 2018

At the start of the new year, Virus Bulletin looks back at the threats seen in the 2017 and at the security products that are available to help mitigate them.

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Spamhaus report shows many botnet controllers look a lot like legitimate servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 9, 2018

Spamhaus's annual report on botnet activity shows that botherders tend to use popular, legitimate hosting providers, domain registrars and top-level domains when setting up command-and-control servers.

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Tips on researching tech support scams

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 5, 2018

As tech support scammers continue to target the computer illiterate through cold calling, VB's Martijn Grooten uses his own experience to share some advice on how to investigate such scams.

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Meltdown and Spectre attacks mitigated by operating system updates

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 4, 2018

Just four days into the new year, two serious attacks in modern processors, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, have been discovered. The attacks can be mitigated by patches to the operating system, but anti-virus software vendors need to make sure their products are compatible with the patches.

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Conference review: AVAR 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 22, 2017

Martijn Grooten reports on the 20th AVAR conference, which took place earlier in December in Beijing, China.

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Conference review: Botconf 2017

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Dec 22, 2017

Virus Bulletin researchers report back from a very interesting fifth edition of Botconf, the botnet fighting conference.

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VB2017 videos on attacks against Ukraine

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

(In)security is a global issue that affects countries around the world, but in recent years none has been so badly hit as Ukraine. Today, we publish the videos of two VB2017 talks about attacks that hit Ukraine particularly badly: a talk by Alexander Adamov (NioGuard) on (Not)Petya and related attacks, and another by Robert Lipovsky and Anton Cherepanov (ESET) on Industroyer.

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Facebook helps you determine whether emails really came from its servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

On its website, Facebook now shows which emails it has sent you recently, thus helping you to determine which emails are real, and which should be discarded as phishing.

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Vulnerability disclosure and botnet takedown not to be hindered by Wassenaar Arrangement

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 19, 2017

Clarification in the language of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, means those involved in vulnerability disclosure or botnet takedown won't have to worry about acquiring an export licence.

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Tor exit node found to turn downloaded binaries into malware

Tor provides anonymity, not security, hence using HTTPS is essential.
Tor provides anonymity, not security, hence using HTTPS is essential. A security researcher has discovered a Tor exit node that was modifying binaries downloaded through it on the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/tor-exit-node-found-turn-downloaded-binaries-malware/

VB2014 paper: Exposing Android white collar criminals

Luis Corrons dives into the world of shady Android apps.
Luis Corrons dives into the world of shady Android apps.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/2014/10/paper-exposing-android-white-collar-criminals/

Black Hat Europe - day 2

IPv6 versus IDPS, XSS in WYSIWYG editors, and reflected file downloads.
IPv6 versus IDPS, XSS in WYSIWYG editors, and reflected file downloads. After a busy first day, I was somewhat glad that the talks on the second day of Black Hat Europe appealed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/black-hat-europe-day-2/

Black Hat Europe - day 1

Programme packed with interesting talks.
Programme packed with interesting talks. Though the prestige of Black Hat Europe doesn't compare to that of its American parent conference, and the event certainly doesn't dominate… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/black-hat-europe-day-1/

VB2014 paper: DNSSEC - how far have we come?

Nick Sullivan describes how DNSSEC uses cryptography to add authentication and integrity to DNS responses.
Nick Sullivan describes how DNSSEC uses cryptography to add authentication and integrity to DNS responses.Over the next months, we will be sharing conference papers as well as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-dnssec-how-far-have-we-come/

POODLE attack forces the Internet to move away from SSL 3.0

Users and administrators urged to stop supporting the protocol, or at least to prevent downgrade attacks.
Users and administrators urged to stop supporting the protocol, or at least to prevent downgrade attacks. After Heartbleed and Shellshock, or the SSL/TLS attacks CRIME and BEAST,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/poodle-attack-forces-internet-move-away-ssl-3-0/

Report: 15 solutions achieve VBSpam award

Surprisingly, the presence of more URLs doesn't necessarily make spam easier to block.
Surprisingly, the presence of more URLs doesn't necessarily make spam easier to block. Yet again, we have good news for those who need to run a spam filter (in other words:… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/report-15-solutions-achieve-vbspam-award/

Windows zero-day used in targeted attacks

Vulnerability used to download BlackEnergy trojan - as discussed during VB2014.
Vulnerability used to download BlackEnergy trojan - as discussed during VB2014. Today is going to be a busy day for system administrators: they were already on high alert following… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/windows-zero-day-used-targeted-attacks/

VB2014 paper: The evolution of webinjects

Jean-Ian Boutin looks at the increased commoditization of webinjects.
Jean-Ian Boutin looks at the increased commoditization of webinjects.Virus Bulletin has always been about sharing information, and the Virus Bulletin conference is an important… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-evolution-webinjects/

Paper: The Hulk

Raul Alvarez studies cavity file infector.
Raul Alvarez studies cavity file infector. Most file infectors increase the length of the infected file, as the malicious code is added as a new section of the host file, or to the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-hulk/

Shellshock used to spread Mayhem

Malware switched to more effective Perl installer.
Malware switched to more effective Perl installer. One of the most prominent discussion topics during VB2014 was the 'Shellshock' vulnerability (CVE-2014-6271) in the popular Bash… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/shellshock-used-spread-mayhem/

October

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/

VB2014: Slides day three

Thanks all for a fantastic conference and see you in Prague... or in Denver!
Thanks all for a fantastic conference and see you in Prague... or in Denver! Two days ago, a lively panel discussion closed what we can only describe as a fantastic conference. For… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/slides-day-three/

'Windigo' research wins first annual Péter Szőr award

The first of many awards to commemorate brilliant researcher.
The first of many awards to commemorate brilliant researcher. When, in November last year, we heard of the passing of Péter Szőr, we wanted to do something to keep the memory of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/windigo-research-wins-first-annual-p-ter-sz-r-award/

VB2014: Slides day two

Another day of excellent presentations.
Another day of excellent presentations. The second day of VB2014 was just as successful as the first one, and saw 22 interesting presentations, divided over two parallel streams,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/slides-day-two/

VB2014: Slides day one

Almost £1,300 donated to WWF!
Almost £1,300 donated to WWF! The inaugural Virus Bulletin conference was held in 1991, making it one of the oldest security conferences in the world. It is also one of very few… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/slides-day-one/

VB2014 previews: an overview

Fourteen blog posts look ahead at the 24th Virus Bulletin conference.
Fourteen blog posts look ahead at the 24th Virus Bulletin conference. In just a few more hours, delegates will be able to collect their VB2014 badges before the conference really… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/previews-overview/

VB2014 preview: Tech Support Scams 2.0: an inside look into the evolution of the classic Microsoft tech support scam

Jérôme Segura looks at recent developments in malicious cold calls.
Jérôme Segura looks at recent developments in malicious cold calls.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we are looking at some of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-tech-support-scams-2-0-inside-look-evolution-classic-microsoft-tech-support-scam/

VB2014 preview: Ubiquitous Flash, ubiquitous exploits and ubiquitous mitigation

Chun Feng and Elia Florio look at exploits targeting domain memory opcode in Adobe Flash.
Chun Feng and Elia Florio look at exploits targeting domain memory opcode in Adobe Flash.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-ubiquitous-flash-ubiquitous-exploits-and-ubiquitous-mitigation/

VB2014: frequently asked questions

Some useful information for those attending VB2014 - or those interested in attending.
Some useful information for those attending VB2014 - or those interested in attending.I haven't registered yet, but I'd like to attend. Can I still register? Yes, you can. Use our… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/frequently-asked-questions/

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