VB Blog

Malicious CCleaner update points to a major weakness in our infrastructure

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 18, 2017

Researchers from Cisco Talos have found that a recent version of the widely used CCleaner tool installed malware on the machine.

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Despite the profitability of ransomware there is a good reason why mining malware is thriving

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 15, 2017

Though ransomware is far more profitable than using a compromised PC to mine bitcoins, the global distribution of malware means that there are many botnets for which mining is the most efficient way to extract money out of a PC.

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VB2017 preview: Crypton - exposing malware's deepest secrets

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 14, 2017

We preview the VB2017 paper by Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman (F5 networks), in which they present a tool to decrypt encrypted parts of malware.

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VB2017 preview: Hacktivism and website defacement: motivations, capabilities and potential threats

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2017

We preview the VB2017 paper by Marco Romagna and Niek Jan van den Hout (The Hague University of Applied Sciences), in which they thoroughly analyse the motivations and modus operandy of hacktivists.

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Three questions to ask about security product bypasses

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2017

Proof-of-concepts for bypasses of security products always sound scary, but how seriously should we take them? VB Editor Martijn Grooten lists three questions one should ask about any such bypass to determine how serious a threat it represents.

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VB2017: WHOIS and EICAR Small Talks added

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 12, 2017

Today, we announce two more 'Small Talks' for the VB2017 programme. In one of them, Neil Schwarzman will discuss the consequences of the GDPR for WHOIS and abuse research, while the other will be hosted by three members of EICAR, who will discuss its work on a trustworthiness strategy and minimum standard.

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VB2017: nine last-minute papers announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 11, 2017

From attacks on Ukraine's power grid to web shells, and from car hacking to ransomware: we announce the first nine 'last-minute' papers on the VB2017 programme.

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Patching is important even when it only shows the maturity of your security process

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 5, 2017

A lot of vulnerabilities that are discovered are never exploited in the wild. It is still important to patch them though.

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Massive data breach confirms what you already knew: you are getting spam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 4, 2017

A security researcher found more than 700 million email addresses stored on a server used by a spam botnet, which gives us some insight into what the email lists used by spammers look like.

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VB2017 preview: State of cybersecurity in Africa: Kenya

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 4, 2017

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Tyrus Kamau (Euclid Security), who will talk about the state of cybersecurity in Africa, with a particular focus on his home country, Kenya.

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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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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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