VB Blog

Paper: New Keylogger on the Block

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 5, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Sophos researcher Gabor Szappanos takes a look at the KeyBase keylogger, sold as a commercial product and popular among cybercriminals who use it in Office exploit kits.

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BSides Denver to take place the day after VB2016

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2016

VB2016, the 26th International Virus Bulletin conference, is an excellent reason to go to Denver, Colorado in the first week of October. But there is another reason to come to Denver: BSides Denver, which will take place the day after VB2016, on Saturday 8 October 2016.

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VB2015 paper: DDoS Trojan: A Malicious Concept that Conquered the ELF Format

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 13, 2016

In their VB2015 paper, Peter Kálnai and Jaromír Hořejší look at the current state of DDoS trojans forming covert botnets on unsuspecting systems. The paper provides a technical analysis of the most important malware families, focusing on infection methods, dynamic behaviour, C&C communication, obfuscation techniques, advanced methods of persistence and stealth, and elimination of rivals.

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Throwback Thursday: Hyppönen, that Data Fellow / Finnish Sprayer

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 2, 2016

This week, well known and universally respected industry guru Mikko Hyppönen celebrates his 25th anniversary of working at F-Secure (formerly known as Data Fellows). VB takes a look back in the archives at two articles published in 1994: an "insight" into the life and work of the then rising star of the anti-virus world, and a virus analysis penned by the man himself.

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VB2015 paper: Economic Sanctions on Malware

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 1, 2016

Financial pressure can be a proactive and potentially very effective tool in making our computer ecosystems safer. By cleverly employing various trust metrics and technologies such as digital signing, watermarking, and public-key infrastructure in strategically selected places, we can encourage good behaviours and punish bad ones. In his VB2015 paper, Igor Muttik analyses and gives examples of technologies (certificates, credentials, etc.) to de-incentivize bad behaviours in several ecosystems (Windows, Android, iOS).

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Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 26, 2016

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.

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Throwback Thursday: One_Half: The Lieutenant Commander?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 26, 2016

In October 1994, a new multi-partite virus appeared, using some of the techniques developed by the Dark Avenger in Commander_Bomber. As if this were not enough, the One_Half virus could also encrypt vital parts of the fixed disk. Eugene Kaspersky provided a detailed analysis.

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Advertisements on Blogspot sites lead to support scam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2016

Support scam pop-ups presented through malicious advertisements show that, next to vulnerable end points, gullible users remain an easy source of money for online criminals.

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To make Tor work better on the web, we need to be honest about it

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 6, 2016

Many websites put barriers in front of visitors who use the Tor network. If we want to make the web more accessible through Tor, we need to be honest about why this is done, rather than cry wolf about a dislike for privacy, Martijn Grooten says.

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Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

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Search blog

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

New sentencing, new legislation

United States Sentencing Commission gets busy...
United States Sentencing Commission gets busy... The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) — the body tasked with refining the sentencing portions of new legislation — met… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2004/04/new-sentencing-new-legislation/

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