VB Blog

Subtle change could see a reduction in installation of malicious Chrome extensions

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 13, 2018

Google has made a subtle change to its Chrome browser, banning the inline installation of new extensions, thus making it harder for malware authors to trick users into unwittingly installing malicious extensions.

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Paper: EternalBlue: a prominent threat actor of 2017–2018

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 11, 2018

We publish a paper by researchers from Quick Heal Security Labs in India, who study the EternalBlue and DoublePulsar exploits in full detail.

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'North Korea' a hot subject among VB2018 talks

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 1, 2018

Several VB2018 papers deal explicitly or implicitly with threats that have been attributed to North Korean actors.

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Expired domain led to SpamCannibal's blacklist eating the whole world

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 31, 2018

The domain of the little-used SpamCannibal DNS blacklist had expired, resulting in it effectively listing every single IP address.

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MnuBot banking trojan communicates via SQL server

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 30, 2018

Researchers at IBM X-Force have discovered MnuBot, a banking trojan targeting users in Brazil, which is noteworthy for using SQL Server for command and control communication.

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Throwback Thursday: Giving the EICAR test file some teeth

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 24, 2018

The 68-byte EICAR test file plays as important a role today as it did 19 years ago. In this week's Throwback Thursday we look back at a VB99 conference paper in which Randy Abrams described how this 'miracle tool' worked and how it could be used.

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XMRig used in new macOS cryptominer

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 23, 2018

A new piece of cryptocurrency-mining malware on macOS has been found to use the popular XMRig miner.

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Tendency for DDoS attacks to become less volumetric fits in a wider trend

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 22, 2018

CDN provider Cloudflare reports an increase in DDoS attacks targeting layer 7 and focusing on exhausting server resources rather than sending large volumes of data. This fits in a wider trend.

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Turkish Twitter users targeted with mobile FinFisher spyware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 15, 2018

Through fake social media accounts, users were tricked into installing an Android application that was actually a mobile version of the FinFisher spyware.

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Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet adds persistence

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2018

The Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet has received an update to make its infection persist on infected devices beyond a restart.

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Hormel halts Spam King in his tracks

No 'Spam King' clothing line for Richter.
No 'Spam King' clothing line for Richter. Infamous spammer Scott Richter, aka the 'Spam King', has fallen at the first hurdle in his bid to launch a 'Spam King'-branded clothing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/06/hormel-halts-spam-king-his-tracks/

DIY do not spam

Chicago businessman takes matters into his own hands
Chicago businessman takes matters into his own hands Chicago businessman Rocky Mosele has created his own 'do not spam' list. Fed up of the disruptive effect spam was having on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/06/diy-do-not-spam/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/06/

Taiwanese Trojan writer arrested

Suspect not a teenager for a change.
Suspect not a teenager for a change. A Taiwanese engineer has been arrested on suspicion of creating a Trojan horse. Earlier this week, 30-year-old Wang Ping-an was apprehended… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/taiwanese-trojan-writer-arrested/

German government spammed

Government email systems overwhelmed
Government email systems overwhelmed Barely a month after Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) put forward proposals for tough new sanctions for spammers, the German… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/german-government-spammed/

Legislation: NZ makes a move

New Zealand government moves toward anti-spam legislation
New Zealand government moves toward anti-spam legislation The government of New Zealand has signalled its intention to bring in anti-spam legislation. A discussion paper released… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/legislation-nz-makes-move/

Cajun spammer tells it like it is

Straight talking spammer
Straight talking spammer A prolific emailer (read spammer) has told the US Senate Commerce Committee that, although the 30 million email messages he sends out each day comply… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/cajun-spammer-tells-it-it/

Spend, spend, spend for Symantec

Anti-spam company to become AV vendor's latest purchase
Anti-spam company to become AV vendor's latest purchase Just days after revealing that its gateway anti-virus product will stop sending automatic virus notification 'spam' - a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/spend-spend-spend-symantec/

No rest for German police

Arrest of suspected Sasser author, arrest of suspected Phatbot author and questioning of five more suspects - all within the space of 7 days.
Arrest of suspected Sasser author, arrest of suspected Phatbot author and questioning of five more suspects - all within the space of 7 days. The German authorities have been busy… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/no-rest-german-police/

Buying and selling

Trend buys back shares, Sybari prepares to sell
Trend buys back shares, Sybari prepares to sell Trend Micro's board of directors has announced plans to repurchase some of the company's shares from the market. The company will… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/buying-and-selling/

SpamCop at receiving end of a restraining order

Venerable spam reporting outfit SpamCop has had a restraining order granted against it on behalf of alleged spammer OptInRealBig.com.
Venerable spam reporting outfit SpamCop has had a restraining order granted against it on behalf of alleged spammer OptInRealBig.com. Venerable spam reporting outfit SpamCop has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/spamcop-receiving-end-restraining-order/

Spam on the catwalk

Spammer extraordinaire launches own clothing line
Spammer extraordinaire launches own clothing line Scott Richter, spammer extraordinaire, is set to launch his own clothing line, according to Newsday . The man who brought to our… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/spam-catwalk/

Law and order

Spamming set to become illegal in the Netherlands and other legislative news...
Spamming set to become illegal in the Netherlands and other legislative news... Spamming is about to become illegal in The Netherlands, after the upper house of the Dutch… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/law-and-order/

Figures and fluctuations

Dips, increases and the cost of dealing with spam
Dips, increases and the cost of dealing with spam While the term 'spam' celebrated its tenth birthday last month, MessageLabs reported a decline in the volume of spam seen in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/figures-and-fluctuations/

NAI reverts to McAfee

Network Associates Inc. (NAI) to streamline and adopt (not so) new name.
Network Associates Inc. (NAI) to streamline and adopt (not so) new name. In a bid to reduce costs and increase productivity, Network Associates, Inc. (NAI) has announced plans to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/nai-reverts-mcafee/

Call for papers: AVAR 2004

AVAR calls for papers
AVAR calls for papers AVAR (the Association of anti-Virus Asia Researchers) has issued a call for papers for AVAR 2004 in Tokyo, which will take place 25-26 November 2004 in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/call-papers-avar-2004/

May

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/05/

Symantec vulnerabilities

eEye reports four new Symantec vulnerabilities
eEye reports four new Symantec vulnerabilities eEye Digital Security has reported that it has discovered four new vulnerabilities affecting Symantec products. Products affected… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/04/symantec-vulnerabilities/

Business news

Acquisitions and new product lines
Acquisitions and new product lines UK-based web and email filtering company SurfControl revealed plans last month to acquire California-based email security firm MessageSoft Inc.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/04/business-news/

No bull?

Eset vs. BullGuard
Eset vs. BullGuard Recently it was brought to VB’s attention that affiliates of BullGuard have been cruising in the slipstream of Eset’s NOD32 product range. Visitors to the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/04/no-bull/

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