VB Blog

Alleged author of creepy FruitFly macOS malware arrested

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 11, 2018

A 28-year old man from Ohio has been arrested on suspicion of having created the mysterious FruitFly malware that targeted macOS and used it to spy on its victims.

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The threat and security product landscape in 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 10, 2018

At the start of the new year, Virus Bulletin looks back at the threats seen in the 2017 and at the security products that are available to help mitigate them.

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Spamhaus report shows many botnet controllers look a lot like legitimate servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 9, 2018

Spamhaus's annual report on botnet activity shows that botherders tend to use popular, legitimate hosting providers, domain registrars and top-level domains when setting up command-and-control servers.

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Tips on researching tech support scams

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 5, 2018

As tech support scammers continue to target the computer illiterate through cold calling, VB's Martijn Grooten uses his own experience to share some advice on how to investigate such scams.

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Meltdown and Spectre attacks mitigated by operating system updates

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 4, 2018

Just four days into the new year, two serious attacks in modern processors, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, have been discovered. The attacks can be mitigated by patches to the operating system, but anti-virus software vendors need to make sure their products are compatible with the patches.

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Conference review: AVAR 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 22, 2017

Martijn Grooten reports on the 20th AVAR conference, which took place earlier in December in Beijing, China.

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Conference review: Botconf 2017

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Dec 22, 2017

Virus Bulletin researchers report back from a very interesting fifth edition of Botconf, the botnet fighting conference.

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VB2017 videos on attacks against Ukraine

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

(In)security is a global issue that affects countries around the world, but in recent years none has been so badly hit as Ukraine. Today, we publish the videos of two VB2017 talks about attacks that hit Ukraine particularly badly: a talk by Alexander Adamov (NioGuard) on (Not)Petya and related attacks, and another by Robert Lipovsky and Anton Cherepanov (ESET) on Industroyer.

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Facebook helps you determine whether emails really came from its servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

On its website, Facebook now shows which emails it has sent you recently, thus helping you to determine which emails are real, and which should be discarded as phishing.

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Vulnerability disclosure and botnet takedown not to be hindered by Wassenaar Arrangement

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 19, 2017

Clarification in the language of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, means those involved in vulnerability disclosure or botnet takedown won't have to worry about acquiring an export licence.

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Same old, same old

Virus writers plead stupidity...
Virus writers plead stupidity... Just days after his creation made its first appearance in the Wild, the suspected author of the Iraqi war-themed W32/Ganda worm has been tracked… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/04/same-old-same-old/

April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/04/

Security in the classroom

Microsoft supporting secure code initiative at University of Leeds
Microsoft supporting secure code initiative at University of Leeds Microsoft seems to be taking security education seriously these days. The software company has pledged support -… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/04/security-classroom/

Lighter sentences for virus writers?

A US report claims that sentences for computer-related crimes are too harsh.
A US report claims that sentences for computer-related crimes are too harsh. The USA's largest group of defence lawyers has backed a report claiming that sentences for… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/03/lighter-sentences-virus-writers/

March

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/03/

Anti-virus for Lindows

Lindows teams up with Central Command to sell Linux anti-virus - a step in the right direction, but perhaps not far enough...
Lindows teams up with Central Command to sell Linux anti-virus - a step in the right direction, but perhaps not far enough... Of the Linux distributions, Lindows is possibly the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/anti-virus-lindows/

Symantec press release backfires

Watch out for your marketing department...
Watch out for your marketing department... It makes a change to be reporting on the under-hyping of a virus threat, rather than the usual story of anti-virus companies… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/symantec-press-release-backfires/

VB2003 programme announced

Details of the VB2003 conference programme announced ...
Details of the VB2003 conference programme announced ... Details of the VB2003 conference programme have been announced and are available online.VB2003 will host more than 30… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/programme-announced/

Calling all speakers

Submit your papers for VB2003 now!
Submit your papers for VB2003 now! Virus Bulletin has extended the deadline for submissions from those wishing to present at VB2003, the Thirteenth Virus Bulletin International… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/calling-all-speakers/

Standing up for free speech

NAI lands itself a hefty fine...
NAI lands itself a hefty fine... Network Associates Inc. (NAI) has landed itself a hefty fine to start the new year after a New York court ruled against the company last month in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/standing-free-speech/

February

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/

Two years for three viruses

Author of Gokar, Redesi and Admirer jailed for two years.
Author of Gokar, Redesi and Admirer jailed for two years. Simon Vallor, a 22-year-old web designer from Wales, who pleaded guilty to creating and distributing a trio of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/02/two-years-three-viruses/

Virus writers get a helping hand

Two organizations send viruses to mailing list subscribers...
Two organizations send viruses to mailing list subscribers... Despite the recent conviction of Welsh Wiccan Simon Vallor, for writing and distributing three mass-mailing viruses,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/virus-writers-get-helping-hand/

W32/B(e)agle

VB predicts: 'Beagle's bark worse than its bite', 'Beware of Bagles in the morning', 'The Beagle has landed', ad nauseam.
VB predicts: 'Beagle's bark worse than its bite', 'Beware of Bagles in the morning', 'The Beagle has landed', ad nauseam. At first glance, W32/Bagle.A is not a particularly… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/w32-b-e-agle/

News summary...

Trend estimates $5b virus damage in 2003, monoculture blues, Symantec 'reels from week of mishaps', more MiMail, and more...
Trend estimates $5b virus damage in 2003, monoculture blues, Symantec 'reels from week of mishaps', more MiMail, and more... Trend Micro kicks off today's news summary with an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/news-summary/

RIAA worm

RIAA allegedly buying worms to stop P2P piracy
RIAA allegedly buying worms to stop P2P piracy It would appear Gobbles Security has done it again, only this time under the guidance of everyone's favourite dark corporation, the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/riaa-worm/

Microsoft rights management

What digital and information rights management may mean for the industry.
What digital and information rights management may mean for the industry. Microsoft is frequently accused of being a hive of lax security, but the company has been very public… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/microsoft-rights-management/

Anti anti anti

NAI buys DeerSoft Inc., manufacturer of SpamAssassin Pro - confusion assured ...
NAI buys DeerSoft Inc., manufacturer of SpamAssassin Pro - confusion assured ... In what seems certain to be a growing trend in the anti-virus industry, and following in the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/anti-anti-anti/

Lessons to be Learned

Proving that mistakes can happen to us all, it seems that W32/Winevar.A was not the only virus 'story' to have arisen from the AVAR 2002 conference in Korea.
Proving that mistakes can happen to us all, it seems that W32/Winevar.A was not the only virus 'story' to have arisen from the AVAR 2002 conference in Korea. It seems that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/lessons-be-learned/

A Happy New Year

In a cheery end-of-year message, mi2g has made ten security predictions for 2003.
In a cheery end-of-year message, mi2g has made ten security predictions for 2003. In a cheery end-of-year message, mi2g has made ten security predictions for 2003. Amongst… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2003/01/happy-new-year/

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