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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January

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/

Spammers using Google open redirect

Vulnerability 'not worthy of bug bounty program'.
Vulnerability 'not worthy of bug bounty program'. Researchers at Solera Labs have discovered spammers using an open redirect at Google to hide the final destination of their link… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/spammers-using-google-open-redirect/

'Nitro attacks' continue

PoisonIvy trojan sent attached to email warning about the same trojan.
PoisonIvy trojan sent attached to email warning about the same trojan. Researchers at Symantec report that the 'Nitro attacks', which target a number of large companies, many of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/nitro-attacks-continue/

Compromised websites used to mine bitcoins

In-the-browser botnet turns victims' CPU cycles into cash for the attackers.
In-the-browser botnet turns victims' CPU cycles into cash for the attackers. Researchers have discovered a compromised website where a piece of JavaScript has been included that is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/compromised-websites-used-mine-bitcoins/

December issue of VB published

The December issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The December issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The December 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/december-issue-vb-published/

December

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/

Recently discovered Java vulnerability being added to exploit kit

Kit 'patched' to include latest exploit; users urged to patch their software too.
Kit 'patched' to include latest exploit; users urged to patch their software too. Security researcher and journalist Brian Krebs has found evidence that a recently discovered… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/recently-discovered-java-vulnerability-being-added-exploit-kit/

SMS trojan targets Android users in eight western countries

Will another piece of mobile malware convince Google manager of the seriousness of the threat?
Will another piece of mobile malware convince Google manager of the seriousness of the threat? Researchers at Kaspersky have discovered an SMS trojan for Android phones that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/sms-trojan-targets-android-users-eight-western-countries/

Latest VBSpam certification results published

Latest VBSpam results published - full report now also available.
Latest VBSpam results published - full report now also available. The results of the November VBSpam comparative review have been announced, with more distinction showing between… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/latest-vbspam-certification-results-published/

IETF expedites publication of RFC describing feedback loop recommendations

Document fast-tracked to be published shortly before the sad passing of its author J.D. Falk.
Document fast-tracked to be published shortly before the sad passing of its author J.D. Falk. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has published an RFC detailing current… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/ietf-expedites-publication-rfc-describing-feedback-loop-recommendations/

South Korea to ask ISPs to block port 25 traffic

Experts sceptical about long-term effects on spam levels.
Experts sceptical about long-term effects on spam levels. South Korea intends to require ISPs to block all outbound traffic on port 25 from anything but the "official" mail… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/south-korea-ask-isps-block-port-25-traffic/

Most free Android anti-virus 'useless', find testers

AV-Test comparative sees minimal value in free mobile protection.
AV-Test comparative sees minimal value in free mobile protection. In a comparative test run by independent anti-malware testing specialist AV-Test.org, the majority of free Android… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/most-free-android-anti-virus-useless-find-testers/

'Largest takedown ever' sees six arrested

Millions made through 'DNSChanger' malware.
Millions made through 'DNSChanger' malware. Six Estonian nationals have been arrested for taking part in a cybercrime ring that made money through DNS-changing malware that had… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/largest-takedown-ever-sees-six-arrested/

Significant rise in Chinese phishing sites

Phishers shown to care little about domain names.
Phishers shown to care little about domain names. In its latest 'Global Phishing Survey', the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) reports a significant increase in phishing sites… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/significant-rise-chinese-phishing-sites/

Support scammers up their game

Websites and Facebook accounts created to make callers appear more legitimate.
Websites and Facebook accounts created to make callers appear more legitimate. 'Support call scammers' have started to use professional-looking websites and social media accounts… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/support-scammers-their-game/

DNS poisoning attack targeting Brazilian customers

ISP employee suspected of changing DNS cache.
ISP employee suspected of changing DNS cache. Millions of Internet users in Brazil may have been exposed to malware after the DNS caches of their ISPs were modified to redirect… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/dns-poisoning-attack-targeting-brazilian-customers/

November issue of VB published

The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The November 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/november-issue-vb-published/

November

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/11/

'Meta-phish' uses attached form to evade web filters

Landing page contains clear warning.
Landing page contains clear warning. A phishing email targeting Austrian credit card users evades web filters by using an attached HTML form, but thankfully the landing page on the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/meta-phish-uses-attached-form-evade-web-filters/

'Son of Stuxnet' trojan found

'Duqu' used in targeted attacks to steal specific information.
'Duqu' used in targeted attacks to steal specific information. Researchers at both Symantec and McAfee have discovered a new Remote Access Trojan (RAT) with strong links to Stuxnet… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/son-stuxnet-trojan-found/

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