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

New faces

VB welcomes new Technical Consultant.
VB welcomes new Technical Consultant. VB is pleased to announce the arrival of a new team member. Following the departure of Matt Ham last month, John Hawes is joining us to take… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/new-faces/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/

m00p group members arrested

Three members of virus-writing gang held.
Three members of virus-writing gang held. Three members of a malware-writing group were arrested last month following investigations in Finland and the UK. The three men - a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/m00p-group-members-arrested/

Big bucks

AV software revenues increase.
AV software revenues increase. Anti-virus software revenues reached $4 billion worldwide last year - an increase of 13.6% on the previous year - according to industry analyst… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/big-bucks/

Phone phishes

Watch out for fake SMS messages.
Watch out for fake SMS messages. A sneaky new phishing technique emerged last month, in which initial contact is made with victims via SMS text message. In the attack, an SMS… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/phone-phishes/

False positive reduction

Amendment to VB's June Windows XP comparative review.
Amendment to VB's June Windows XP comparative review. In Virus Bulletin's June 2006 Windows XP comparative review (see VB, June 2006, p.11), VB reported that Alwil's product… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/false-positive-reduction/

June issue of VB published

The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The June 2006 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/june-issue-vb-published/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/

OneCare goes live

Microsoft anti-virus goes on general release.
Microsoft anti-virus goes on general release.Microsoft's anti-virus software Windows Live OneCare is due to go on general release this month. OneCare, which has been available… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/onecare-goes-live/

Bank takes steps to increase customer security

Bank signs deal with AV vendor in an attempt to stop phishers in their tracks.
Bank signs deal with AV vendor in an attempt to stop phishers in their tracks. In an attempt to prevent online banking fraud, a British bank has signed a deal with Finnish… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/bank-takes-steps-increase-customer-security/

Gone phishing in Japan

Japan's first crackdown on organized phishing.
Japan's first crackdown on organized phishing. Police in Kyoto have arrested eight men in Japan's first crackdown on organized phishing. The men are suspected of belonging to a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/gone-phishing-japan/

Symantec vulnerability discovered - and fixed

Buffer overflow vulnerability found in corporate AV software.
Buffer overflow vulnerability found in corporate AV software.Symantec was quick to respond late last month to the discovery of a potentially critical vulnerability in the latest… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/symantec-vulnerability-discovered-and-fixed/

Blue Frog croaks but may rise again

Open source project to create anti-spam opt-out tool based on the defunct Blue Frog service.
Open source project to create anti-spam opt-out tool based on the defunct Blue Frog service. Last month, Blue Frog, the anti-spam service offered by Blue Security, was forced to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/06/blue-frog-croaks-may-rise-again/

OECD calls for coordination and cooperation

OECD issues 'Recommendation on Cross-Border Cooperation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam'.
OECD issues 'Recommendation on Cross-Border Cooperation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam'. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has called on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/oecd-calls-coordination-and-cooperation/

VoIP phishing scam

New species of phish spotted.
New species of phish spotted. A new variety of phishing scam was spotted last month: VoIP phishing. Instead of coercing victims into entering their confidential details on a fake… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/voip-phishing-scam/

May issue of VB published

The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The May 2006 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/may-issue-vb-published/

May

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/

Spam papers available

Organizers of the 2006 Spam Conference encourage you to get reading.
Organizers of the 2006 Spam Conference encourage you to get reading. Papers and slides from the 2006 Spam Conference held at the end of March are now available online. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/spam-papers-available/

Security survey and checklist

Attempt to gain better understanding of the costs of computer security incidents.
Attempt to gain better understanding of the costs of computer security incidents. Businesses in the US have been urged to complete a survey issued jointly by the US Departments of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/05/security-survey-and-checklist/

VB job vacancy

There are currently no job vacancies at Virus Bulletin.
There are currently no job vacancies at Virus Bulletin. Posted on 8 June 2006 by Virus Bulletin https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/04/vb-job-vacancy/

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