VB Blog

VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: Malicious proxy auto-configs: an easy way to harvest banking credentials

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 30, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, Jaromír Horejší and Jan Širmer looked at Retefe, a trojan that has targeted banks in several European countries and used malicious proxy auto-config filesto redirect users' traffic to a server controlled by the attackers. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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WannaCry shows we need to understand why organizations don't patch

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 17, 2017

Perhaps the question we should be asking about WannaCry is not "why do so many organizations allow unpatched machines to exist on their networks?" but "why doesn't patching work reasonably well most of the time?"

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Modern security software is not necessarily powerless against threats like WannaCry

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 15, 2017

The WannaCry ransomware has affected many organisations around the world, making it probably the worst and most damaging of its kind. But modern security is not necessarily powerless against such threats.

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Throwback Thursday: CARO: A personal view

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 11, 2017

This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts. As a founding member of CARO, Fridrik Skulason was well placed, in August 1994, to shed some light on the organization, to explain in detail CARO's main activities and functions, as well as the reasons behind its strict membership regulations.

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VB2016 paper: Uncovering the secrets of malvertising

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 10, 2017

Malicious advertising, a.k.a. malvertising, has evolved tremendously over the past few years to take a central place in some of today’s largest web-based attacks. It is by far the tool of choice for attackers to reach the masses but also to target them with infinite precision and deliver such payloads as ransomware. Today, we publish a paper presented at VB2016 in Denver by Malwarebytes researchers Jérôme Segura and Chris Boyd, in which they look at the advertising ecosystem, how it is used, and at what techniques are being utilised to spread malware

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Throwback Thursday: Tools of the DDoS Trade

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 4, 2017

As DDoS attacks become costlier to fix and continue to increase in both number and diversity, we turn back the clock to 2000, when Aleksander Czarnowski took a look at the DDoS tools of the day.

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VB2016 paper: Building a local passiveDNS capability for malware incident response

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 4, 2017

At VB2016, Splunk researchers Kathy Wang and Steve Brant presented a Splunk app that can be used to locally collect passive DNS data. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: A malicious OS X cocktail served from a tainted bottle

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, ESET researchers Peter Kalnai and Martin Jirkal looked at the OS X malware threats KeRanger and Keydnap, that both spread through a compromised BitTorrent client. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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Consumer spyware: a serious threat with a different threat model

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 25, 2017

Consumer spyware is a growing issue and one that can have serious consequences: its use is increasingly common in domestic violence. But do our threat models consider the attacker with physical access to, and inside knowledge of the victim?

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VB2016 paper: Debugging and monitoring malware network activities with Haka

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 24, 2017

In their VB2016 paper, Stormshield researchers Benoît Ancel and Mehdi Talbi introduced Haka, an open-source language to monitor, debug and control malicious network traffic. Both their paper and the video recording of their presentation are now available to read/view on www.virusbulletin.com.

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Search blog

IEEE announces Anti-Malware Support Service

'Software taggant system' and 'clean file metadata exchange' discussed at previous VB conferences.
'Software taggant system' and 'clean file metadata exchange' discussed at previous VB conferences. Wouldn't it be nice if providers of software packers included a licence key in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/03/ieee-announces-anti-malware-support-service/

March

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/03/

March issue of VB published

The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The March 2014 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/03/march-issue-vb-published/

'Cyberdanger' informs general audience of IT security

Eddy Willems' book is a pleasant read on an important subject.
Eddy Willems' book is a pleasant read on an important subject. Security expert Eddy Willems has written a book. The friendly Belgian, currently G Data's Security Evangelist, is a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/cyberdanger-informs-general-audience-it-security/

Researchers crack ransomware encryption

'Bitcrypt' authors confused their bytes and digits.
'Bitcrypt' authors confused their bytes and digits. Two French researchers have found a serious vulnerability in a new piece of ransomware that has allowed them to crack the keys… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/researchers-crack-ransomware-encryption/

Windows Error Reporting used to discover new attacks

No excuse for sending error reports in cleartext.
No excuse for sending error reports in cleartext. All happy programs are the same. But each unhappy program crashes in its own way. In a report published yesterday, security firm… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/windows-error-reporting-used-discover-new-attacks/

Tech support scammers won't give up

M3AAWG workshop to deal with fighting telephony abuse.
M3AAWG workshop to deal with fighting telephony abuse. For security researchers like myself, receiving a call from a tech support scammer is usually a good opportunity for a bit of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/tech-support-scammers-won-t-give/

At least 99.4% of spam blocked in recent Virus Bulletin test

All solutions on test blocked at least 99.4% of spam, but some struggled with false positive issues; survey also shows few products support DMARC.
All solutions on test blocked at least 99.4% of spam, but some struggled with false positive issues; survey also shows few products support DMARC. The results of the most recent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/least-99-4-spam-blocked-recent-test/

February

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/

February issue of VB published

The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The February 2014 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/02/february-issue-vb-published/

Macro viruses make a return in targeted attacks

Macros disabled in modern versions of Office, but enabled within many organisations.
Macros disabled in modern versions of Office, but enabled within many organisations. A report by the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC, the Dutch CERT) points to a resurgence of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/macro-viruses-make-return-targeted-attacks/

VirusTotal support integrated into new version of Process Explorer

Sysadmins can check hashes of processes against file-checking service database.
Sysadmins can check hashes of processes against file-checking service database.Microsoft and Google are known for their fierce competition, but when it comes to security, the tech… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/virustotal-support-integrated-new-version-process-explorer/

CSRF vulnerability in USB modems allows for infrastructure-less phishing

Credentials sent to attacker by built-in SMS functionality.
Credentials sent to attacker by built-in SMS functionality. Modems and routers aren't typically known for their security, and modems that allow one to connect to mobile broadband… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/csrf-vulnerability-usb-modems-allows-infrastructure-less-phishing/

Browser-based ransomware uses scare tactics to extort money

Unsophisticated scam shows the high level of commoditization of today's cybercrime.
Unsophisticated scam shows the high level of commoditization of today's cybercrime. A case of browser-based ransomware, that is currently using social engineering tactics in an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/browser-based-ransomware-uses-scare-tactics-extort-money/

Is your fridge sending spam?

It's possible that smart devices are sending spam, but it wouldn't make any difference.
It's possible that smart devices are sending spam, but it wouldn't make any difference. Last week, security-as-a-service firm Proofpoint published a press release on a recent spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/your-fridge-sending-spam/

2014

Latest news from the anti-virus industry provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
NewsConference review: Botconf 2014Second edition of 'botnet fighting conference' another great success. 22 December 2014Call for Papers: VB2015 PragueVB seeks submissions for the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/

January

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/

January issue of VB published

The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The January 2014 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/01/january-issue-vb-published/

Botconf - the 'first botnet fighting conference'

Tools, ideas and research presented in Nantes.
Tools, ideas and research presented in Nantes. There are far too many security conferences each year for my agenda, budget and brain to handle, and thus I need to choose carefully… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/12/botconf-first-botnet-fighting-conference/

VB2014: more of the same, plus something a little different

Hackers, network security researchers encouraged to submit abstracts for the conference.
Hackers, network security researchers encouraged to submit abstracts for the conference. The issuing of the call for papers for a VB conference is always an important event for us,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/12/more-same-plus-something-little-different/

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