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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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/

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 2006 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/07/july-issue-vb-published/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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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