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 VB Spam Supplement

VB plans to present a selection of news and articles on spam and anti-spam techniques - some technical, some ethical, some relating to real-world experiences of dealing with spam.
VB plans to present a selection of news and articles on spam and anti-spam techniques - some technical, some ethical, some relating to real-world experiences of dealing with spam.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/11/new-vb-spam-supplement/

November

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/11/

Totally Toronto: VB2003

Helen Martin recounts the Virus Bulletin conference.
Helen Martin recounts the Virus Bulletin conference. full article Posted on 30 October 2003 by Virus Bulletin https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/10/totally-toronto/

Linux vs. Windows viruses: a rebuttal

Pete Sergeant responds to an article by a SecurityFocus columnist, which hints that Linux users really don't need to worry about viruses.
Pete Sergeant responds to an article by a SecurityFocus columnist, which hints that Linux users really don't need to worry about viruses. Regarding Linux vs. Windows Viruses:… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/10/linux-vs-windows-viruses-rebuttal/

October

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/10/

Four arrests and a congressional hearing

US Congress starts to take computer security seriously, four alleged malware writers arrested...
US Congress starts to take computer security seriously, four alleged malware writers arrested... A US Congressional hearing was held last month to discuss the current state of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/09/four-arrests-and-congressional-hearing/

September

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/09/

Youth faces arrest for Blaster variant

Teenager suspected of creating Blaster variant faces arrest.
Teenager suspected of creating Blaster variant faces arrest. An 18-year-old suspected of creating a variant of the Blaster worm is reported to be facing arrest today. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/08/youth-faces-arrest-blaster-variant/

Watching and waiting for Sobig

On 22 August 2003 anti-virus experts and sysadmins worldwide waited to discover what events, if any, would unfold when Sobig.F began a synchronized attack.
On 22 August 2003 anti-virus experts and sysadmins worldwide waited to discover what events, if any, would unfold when Sobig.F began a synchronized attack. Anti-virus experts and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/08/watching-and-waiting-sobig/

Symantec acquires Hilgraeve patent

Symantec pays $62.5m for a software patent, considers litigation against infringing competitors.
Symantec pays $62.5m for a software patent, considers litigation against infringing competitors. Symantec announced yesterday it had paid $62.5m for the infamous US Patent No.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/08/symantec-acquires-hilgraeve-patent/

August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/08/

No more Mr Nice Guy: UK gets tough on hi-tech criminals

Welsh virus-writer shown justice, not mercy
Welsh virus-writer shown justice, not mercy London’s Court of Appeal has turned down Welsh virus writer Simon Vallor’s appeal to shorten his two-year custodial sentence. Vallor,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/08/no-more-mr-nice-guy-uk-gets-tough-hi-tech-criminals/

Canadian retreat

Ontario plays host to VB2003 and NTBugtraq Retreat.
Ontario plays host to VB2003 and NTBugtraq Retreat. This year's Virus Bulletin conference programme covers a wide range of subjects - from the detailed analysis of emerging… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/07/canadian-retreat/

The big wait

Will Microsoft's second attempt at entering the anti-virus field result in the 'vast shake-up' of the AV industry that was expected last time?
Will Microsoft's second attempt at entering the anti-virus field result in the 'vast shake-up' of the AV industry that was expected last time? The big news in June was the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/07/big-wait/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/07/

School without thought - your thoughts

Your thoughts on the University of Calgary's proposals to teach virus writing in its course on computer viruses and malware.
Your thoughts on the University of Calgary's proposals to teach virus writing in its course on computer viruses and malware.Recently VB reported on the University of Calgary's… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/06/school-without-thought-your-thoughts/

Microsoft buys into AV

Microsoft announces acquisition of anti-virus technology.
Microsoft announces acquisition of anti-virus technology.Microsoft has announced the acquisition of anti-virus technology from Romanian AV manufacturer GeCAD Software.The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/06/microsoft-buys-av/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/06/

School without thought

University course teaches students to write malware.
University course teaches students to write malware. The University of Calgary has announced very proudly on its website that a new undergraduate course will 'focus on developing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/06/school-without-thought/

Military intelligence

US Army gets serious about anti-virus.
US Army gets serious about anti-virus. The US Army is using products supplied by Trend Micro to protect users of its Army Knowledge Online service from viruses, malicious content… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/04/military-intelligence/

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