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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VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenters Ilya Rabinovich and Randy Abrams about their research, Windows 8 security, and what they aim to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenters Ilya Rabinovich and Randy Abrams about their research, Windows 8 security, and what they aim to bring to VB2013. The VB2013 conference takes place… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/speaker-spotlight-rabinovich-abrams/

Are Gmail's new advertisements in breach of CAN-SPAM?

Marketers upset about 'emails' that you can't unsubscribe from.
Marketers upset about 'emails' that you can't unsubscribe from. A debate is happening among (anti-)spam experts on whether Gmail's new way of displaying advertisements is in breach… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/are-gmail-s-new-advertisements-breach-can-spam/

Thousands of websites affected by nameserver hijack redirecting visitors to malware

DNS caching causes attack to have a long tail.
DNS caching causes attack to have a long tail. Yesterday, visitors to thousands of Dutch websites were served an 'under construction' page that, through a hidden iframe, was… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/thousands-websites-affected-nameserver-hijack-redirecting-visitors-malware/

Firefox 17 zero-day exploit targets users of Tor network

Visitors to child abuse websites likely target of operation, but will there be collateral damage?
Visitors to child abuse websites likely target of operation, but will there be collateral damage? A zero-day exploit in Firefox 17 that was probably used to track the visitors to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/firefox-17-zero-day-exploit-targets-users-tor-network/

There is no 'I know what I am doing' trump card in security

NSA activities could make millions avoid US-based services.
NSA activities could make millions avoid US-based services. We have all been there. To continue the product you're working on, you need to get some extra permission: a port needs… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/there-no-i-know-what-i-am-doing-trump-card-security/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenters Mark Kennedy and Igor Muttik about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenters Mark Kennedy and Igor Muttik about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013. The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/speaker-spotlight-kennedy-muttik/

August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/

August issue of VB published

The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The August 2013 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/august-issue-vb-published/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenters Axelle Apvrille and Karine de Pontevès about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenters Axelle Apvrille and Karine de Pontevès about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013. The VB2013 conference takes place this… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/speaker-spotlight-apvrille-de-ponteves/

Is publishing your employees' email addresses such a big deal?

Beware of a false sense of security.
Beware of a false sense of security. Security blogger Graham Cluley points to hypocrisy in a KPMG press release in which it criticises FTSE 350 companies for 'leaking data that can… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/publishing-your-employees-email-addresses-such-big-deal/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenters Carsten Willems and Ralf Hund about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenters Carsten Willems and Ralf Hund about their research interests and what they aim to bring to VB2013. The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/speaker-spotlight-willems-hund/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to James Wyke about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.
We speak to James Wyke about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4 October) in Berlin, with an exciting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/speaker-spotlight-wyke/

IETF discusses deprecation of IPv6 fragmentation

Little-used feature could have unintended security consequences.
Little-used feature could have unintended security consequences. As the Internet is (very) slowly migrating towards IPv6, researchers are reconsidering a little-used feature that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/ietf-discusses-deprecation-ipv6-fragmentation/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenter Samir Mody about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenter Samir Mody about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013. The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4 October) in Berlin,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/speaker-spotlight-mody/

July issue of VB published

The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The July 2013 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/july-issue-vb-published/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenter Andreas Lindh about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.
We speak to VB2013 presenter Andreas Lindh about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4 October) in Berlin,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/06/speaker-spotlight-lindh/

Compromised Yahoo! accounts continue to spread Android malware

Problem likely to be on Yahoo!'s side.
Problem likely to be on Yahoo!'s side. In recent weeks, we have noticed an uptick in the amount of spam sent from compromised Yahoo! accounts; we have reasons to believe the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/06/compromised-yahoo-accounts-continue-spread-android-malware/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to VB2013 presenters Lysa Myers and David Harley about their research interests and what they aim to bring to the conference.
We speak to VB2013 presenters Lysa Myers and David Harley about their research interests and what they aim to bring to the conference. The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/06/speaker-spotlight-harley-myers/

Facebook temporarily blocks access from Tor

Malicious activity triggered automatic lockdown.
Malicious activity triggered automatic lockdown. A 'high volume of malicious activity across Tor exit nodes' is believed to have been the reason why Facebook temporarily blocked… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/06/facebook-temporarily-blocks-access-tor/

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