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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September issue of VB published

The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The September 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/september-issue-vb-published/

September

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/

Researchers find email used in RSA hack

Email with malicious attachment uploaded to online scanning service
Email with malicious attachment uploaded to online scanning service Researchers at F-Secure have managed to obtain the file used in the targeted attack against security vendor RSA… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/researchers-find-email-used-rsa-hack/

Explosive growth of malicious spam

Spam filters less likely to block current malware campaigns.
Spam filters less likely to block current malware campaigns. While several reports show that the global levels of spam have seen a steady decline over the past year, this month has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/explosive-growth-malicious-spam/

Spam sent via fake out-of-office messages

'Sick leave' message followed by weight loss spam.
'Sick leave' message followed by weight loss spam. In an apparently new way of spreading their messages, spammers are advertising their products via fake out-of-office replies.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/spam-sent-fake-out-office-messages/

Fake codec trojan disables anti-virus software

Victim tricked into believing security software still active.
Victim tricked into believing security software still active. A new trojan, discovered by researchers at ESET, spreads itself via fake codecs, then disables running anti-virus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/fake-codec-trojan-disables-anti-virus-software/

Banking malware tells user to 'refund' money

Web injection used to suggest accidental transfer.
Web injection used to suggest accidental transfer. In a new twist to banking trojans, a piece of malware found on German computers tricks victims into believing a large amount has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/banking-malware-tells-user-refund-money/

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 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/august-issue-vb-published/

August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/

AV-Test.org unveils latest certifications

Q2 test results covering 22 products released.
Q2 test results covering 22 products released. Independent testing body AV-Test.org has released the results of its latest round of testing, putting 22 of the latest security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/av-test-org-unveils-latest-certifications/

Rogue Twitter application steals passwords

'See who stalks my Twitter' used to lure users.
'See who stalks my Twitter' used to lure users. A malicious Twitter application is currently spreading on the microblogging network, luring users to hand over their passwords,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/rogue-twitter-application-steals-passwords/

Hotmail beefs up security with stricter password policy

'My friend has been spammed' button also welcomed by experts.
'My friend has been spammed' button also welcomed by experts.Microsoft's free webmail service Hotmail has introduced some new features which should make it less likely for its… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/hotmail-beefs-security-stricter-password-policy/

Trojan uses remote user account to control compromised machine

Malware targets customers of Brazilian banks.
Malware targets customers of Brazilian banks. Researchers at Kaspersky have discovered a piece of malware aimed at customers of Brazilian banks which creates a remote user account… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/trojan-uses-remote-user-account-control-compromised-machine/

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 July VBSpam comparative review have been announced. The 14th VBSpam test showed both a number… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/latest-vbspam-certification-results-published/

Zitmo trojan for Android defeats two-factor authentication

Malware intercepts TANs sent via SMS.
Malware intercepts TANs sent via SMS. A new variant of the Zitmo trojan has been discovered that infects mobile devices running the Android platform and which intercepts SMS… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/zitmo-trojan-android-defeats-two-factor-authentication/

Google delists all .co.cc domains from its index

Large fraction of sites deemed 'spammy or low-quality'.
Large fraction of sites deemed 'spammy or low-quality'.Google has removed all sites running on subdomains of .co.cc from its search engine index as the company believes too large a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/google-delists-all-co-cc-domains-its-index/

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 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/july-issue-vb-published/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/

Spammers using social network templates

Templates from social networking sites used to make messages appear legitimate.
Templates from social networking sites used to make messages appear legitimate. According to Symantec, spammers are increasingly using templates from social networking sites to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/spammers-using-social-network-templates/

International co-operation leads to scareware arrests

ChronoPay co-founder arrested for DDoS attacks on rivals.
ChronoPay co-founder arrested for DDoS attacks on rivals. Last week, Russian authorities arrested Pavel Vrublevsky, co-founder of ChronoPay, Russia's largest processor of online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/international-co-operation-leads-scareware-arrests/

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