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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Latest Virus Bulletin report shows the difference web security products make

The latest Virus Bulletin web security report sees Kaspersky, Trustwave and Fortinet all achieve VBWeb certification, but also see some products struggle with the new Fallout exploit kit.
Extremely targeted attacks aside, when a user gets infected through the web, it means something has happened that should not have. Either the user clicked on a link they shouldn't… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/latest-virus-bulletin-report-shows-difference-web-security-products-make/

Subscribe to the relaunched Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter

Subscribe to the re-launched Virus Bulletin eNews Newsletter to receive regular updates on the latest threat intelligence sources directly in your inbox.
Today, we relaunched the Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter. The newsletter provides weekly updates of what is happening both at Virus Bulletin and in the wider security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/subscribe-relaunched-virus-bulletin-enews-newsletter/

VB2018 paper: Since the hacking of Sony Pictures

The Lazarus Group, which became (in)famous through the Sony Pictures breach and the WannaCry attack, is still very much active and targeting financial institutions around the world. Today we publish the VB2018 paper by AhnLab researcher Minseok (Jacky) Ch…
Recent activity shows that the Lazarus Group, which became (in)famous through the Sony Pictures breach and the WannaCry attack, is still very much active and targeting financial… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-paper-hacking-sony-pictures/

VB2018 video: Shedding skin - Turla's fresh faces

Today, we have published the video of a VB2018 presentation by Kaspersky Lab researchers Kurt Baumgartner and Mike Scott, who looked at the latest activity of the Turla group.
"Capable, well-resourced, and they go back decades." The Turla threat group doesn't make the news as much as some other Russian-speaking APT groups, but it is one of the most… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-video-shedding-skin-turlas-fresh-faces/

VB2018 video: Triada: the past, the present and the (hopefully not existing) future

Today we publish the video of the VB2018 presentation by Google researcher Lukasz Siewierski on the Triada Android malware and Google's work with OEMs to remove it from infected devices.
From NotPetya to Shadowpad, supply chain attacks have become a serious and hard-to-fight security problem. One prominent type of supply chain attack involves the pre-installation… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-video-triada-past-present-and-hopefully-not-existing-future/

VB2018 paper: Uncovering the wholesale industry of social media fraud: from botnet to bulk reseller panels

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Masarah Paquet-Clouston (GoSecure) who looked at the supply chain behind social media fraud.
On the day of the 2018 US mid-term elections, there will be few who are not aware of the activity of botnets on social media and how these, allegedly, have tried to influence… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-paper-uncovering-wholesale-industry-social-media-fraud-botnet-bulk-reseller-panels/

November

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/

VB2018 paper: Now you see it, now you don't: wipers in the wild

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper from Saher Naumaan (BAE Systems) who looks at malware variants that contain a wiper functionality. We also publish the recording of her presentation.
Early computer viruses were often destructive in nature, but once criminals learned about the money they could make from malware, they realised that destructiveness hurt their… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-paper-now-you-see-it-now-you-dont-wipers-wild/

Emotet trojan starts stealing full emails from infected machines

The infamous Emotet trojan has added the capability to steal full email bodies from infected machines, opening the possibilities for more targeted spam and phishing campaigns.
Researchers at Kryptos Logic have discovered that the Emotet banking trojan is exfiltrating entire email bodies as opposed to merely email addresses. Emotet was first discovered… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/emotet-trojan-starts-stealing-full-emails-infected-machines/

VB2018 paper: Who wasn’t responsible for Olympic Destroyer?

Cisco Talos researchers Paul Rascagnères and Warren Mercer were among the first to write about the Olympic Destroyer, the malware that targeted the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. Today, we publish the paper they presented at VB2018 about the malwa…
It may be hard to believe, but it was only eight months ago that the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games were targeted by malware named Olympic Destroyer. Though not the first… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/who-wasnt-responsible-olympic-destroyer/

VB2018 paper: From drive-by download to drive-by mining: understanding the new paradigm

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura, in which he details the shift from exploit kits to drive-by mining. We also publish the video of his VB2018 presentation.
When it comes to web-based threats, Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura is one of the people to follow. His quarterly reviews of the exploit kit landscape are an essential read… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/vb2018-paper-drive-download-drive-mining-understanding-new-paradigm/

VB2018 presentation: The wolf in sheep's clothing - undressed

Today, we publish the video of the VB2018 presentation by CSIS researchers Benoît Ancel and Aleksejs Kuprins, who looked at a rather dubious seller of government spyware, described by someone else operating in the same space as a "criminal of the worst ki…
In recent years, we have seen a trend of commercial spyware being sold to governments. This is a very controversial subject, not least because of the frequent use of this spyware… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/wolf-sheeps-clothing-undressed/

VB2018 paper: The dark side of WebAssembly

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Symantec researchers Aishwarya Lonkar and Siddhesh Chandrayan on the security risks that come with WebAssembly.
With this year's very successful Virus Bulletin Conference (VB2018) now behind us, we plan to continue the tradition of publishing most of the papers and videos of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/vb2018-paper-dark-side-webassembly/

The Virus Bulletin conference returns home: VB2019 to take place in London

In 2019, the Virus Bulletin conference is set to return home, with VB2019 taking place in London, UK.
In July 1989, the first ever Virus Bulletin magazine was published from its home in Oxfordshire, UK – a monthly publication focusing on the emerging threat of computer viruses.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/virus-bulletin-conference-returns-home-vb2019-take-place-london/

Guest blog: The case for increasing transparency in cybersecurity

In a guest blog post, Kaspersky Lab's Anton Shingarev considers the case for increasing transparency in cybersecurity.
In a guest blog post by VB2018 gold partner Kaspersky Lab, Anton Shingarev, Vice President, Public Affairs, considers the case for increasing transparency in cybersecurity.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/guest-blog-case-increasing-transparency-cybersecurity/

October

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/

VB2018 preview: Workshops

Workshops make their VB Conference debut during VB2018, giving delegates the opportunity to learn the basics of kernel-level malware analysis, Android reverse-engineering and artificial intelligence.
The Virus Bulletin Conference is first and foremost a place to learn: about new threats, about the tools used to detect and fight them, and to learn about (and get to know) the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/09/vb2018-preview-workshops/

New article: Through the looking glass: webcam interception and protection in kernel mode

Today we publish a short article by Ronen Slavin and Michael Maltsev, researchers at Reason Software Company, who dive into the video capturing internals on Windows, and explain how this can be used by a malicious actor to steal images recorded by a compu…
Today we publish a short article by Ronen Slavin and Michael Maltsev, researchers at Reason Software, one of the partners of VB2018. In the article, Ronen and Michael dive into… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/09/new-article-through-looking-glass-webcam-intercepton-and-protection-kernel-mode/

VB2018 preview: The botnet landscape - live threats and steps for mitigation (Small Talk)

In a Small Talk at VB2018, Spamhaus's Simon Forster will present the organization's research into the botnet landscape and will discuss with the audience topics such as how the rise of anonymzation techniques and the hosting of botnets on well-regarded cl…
Whether they're used to send spam, to perform DDoS attacks, or as a proxy network for other kinds of nefarious activities, botnets remain a prominent tool for cybercriminals, and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/09/vb2018-preview-botnet-landscape-live-threats-and-steps-mitigation-small-talk/

VB2018 Threat Intelligence Summit: survey on threat intel usage

Virus Bulletin is proud to host the first Threat Intelligence Summit as an integral part of VB2018 next week. In a bid to help collect as much current data as possible, we'd like to ask anyone generating or consuming threat intelligence to fill in a very …
Virus Bulletin is proud to host the first Threat Intelligence Summit as an integral part of VB2018, which is to take place next week in Montreal, Canada. The Summit is open to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/09/vb2018-threat-intelligence-summit-survey-threat-intel-usage/

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