VB Blog

VB2018 presentation: Levelling up: why sharing threat intelligence makes you more competitive

Posted by Helen Martin on Mar 1, 2019

In a presentation at VB2018, Michael Daniel, President and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, outlined exactly how threat sharing strengthens a company's competitive advantage. Today we release the recording of his presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 25, 2019

The set-up of the VBSpam test lab gives us a unique insight into the kinds of emails that are more likely to bypass email filters. This week we look at the malspam that was missed: a very international email with a link serving Emotet, an Italian Ursnif campaign with a password-protected ZIP and an email to which a clumsy spammer had attached a list of email addresses rather than a payload.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 22, 2019

Domains play a crucial role in most cyber attacks, from the very advanced to the very mundane. Today, we publish a VB2018 paper by Paul Vixie (Farsight Security) who undertook the first systematic study into the lifetimes of newly registered domains.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 20, 2019

Constraint programming is a lesser-known technique that is becoming increasingly popular among malware analysts. In a paper presented at VB2018 Thaís Moreira Hamasaki presented an overview of the technique and explained how it can be applied to the analysis of (potentially) malicious binaries. Today, we publish both Thaís' paper and the video of her presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 19, 2019

With a little less than a month before the deadline of the call for papers for VB2019, Virus Bulletin encourages submissions from experienced speakers and newcomers alike.

Posted by Helen Martin on Feb 13, 2019

At VB2018 in Montreal, Ixia researcher Stefan Tanase presented a thought-provoking paper on the current state of the Internet and the worrying tendency towards raising borders and restricting the flow of information. Today we publish both his paper and the recording of his presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 11, 2019

The set-up of the VBSpam test lab gives us a unique insight into the kinds of emails that are more likely to bypass email filters. This week we look at the malspam that was missed: banking and email phishing, Emotet and Bushaloader.

Posted by Helen Martin on Feb 8, 2019

The cybersecurity skills gap has been described as one of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today. At VB2018 in Montreal, ESET's Lysa Myers outlined some of the things the industry can do to help address the problem. Today we publish Lysa's paper and the recording of her presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 5, 2019

We look forward the Nullcon 2019 conference in Goa, India, at which VB Editor Martijn Grooten will give a talk on the state of malware.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Feb 3, 2019

We see a lot of spam in the VBSpam test lab, and we also see how well such emails are being blocked by email security products. Recently some of the emails that bypassed security products included a broken Amazon phishing campaign, a large fake UPS campaign and malicious emails carrying Emotet and Lokibot.

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August

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/

VB2018 Small Talk: An industry approach for unwanted software criteria and clean requirements

An industry approach for defining and detecting unwanted software to be presented and discussed at the Virus Bulletin conference.
The constantly evolving threat landscape poses challenges for security vendors. But an equally big, if less reported, challenge is that posed by the kind of software that lives on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2018-small-talk-industry-approach-unwanted-software-criteria-and-clean-requirements/

VB2018 call for last-minute papers opened

The call for last-minute papers for VB2018 is now open. Submit before 2 September to have your abstract considered for one of the nine slots reserved for 'hot' research.
Virus Bulletin has opened the call for last-minute papers for VB2018. The VB2018 programme already boasts some 40 talks, with a few more exciting things to be added very soon… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/vb2018-call-last-minute-papers-opened/

VB2017 paper and update: Browser attack points still abused by banking trojans

At VB2017, ESET researchers Peter Kálnai and Michal Poslušný looked at how banking malware interacts with browsers. Today we publish their paper, share the video of their presentation, and also publish a guest blog post from Peter, in which he summarises …
#VB2017 follow-up: mid 2018 update Peter Kálnai & Michal Poslušný, ESET MITB attacks in Chrome In this short note, we look back to research presented at VB2017 [1].… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/vb2017-paper-and-update-browser-attack-points-still-abused-banking-trojans/

New paper: Does malware based on Spectre exist?

It is likely that, by now, everyone in computer science has at least heard of the Spectre attack, and many excellent explanations of the attack already exist. But what is the likelihood of finding Spectre being exploited on Android smartphones?
The discovery of the Spectre and Meltdown attacks in January cast a long shadow over the year, with many of the issued security patches having their own problems and several new… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/new-paper-does-malware-based-spectre-exist/

More VB2018 partners announced

We are excited to announce several more companies that have partnered with VB2018.
The Virus Bulletin Conference has always been about bringing the security community together, and in this spirit, this year we are referring to the organizations that support… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/more-vb2018-partners-announced/

Malware authors' continued use of stolen certificates isn't all bad news

A new malware campaign that uses two stolen code-signing certificates shows that such certificates continue to be popular among malware authors. But there is a positive side to malware authors' use of stolen certificates.
A malware campaign has been using code-signing certificates stolen from Taiwanese companies to sign its samples, ESET researcher and regular VB conference speaker Anton Cherepanov… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/malware-authors-continued-use-stolen-certificates-not-only-bad-news/

Save the dates: VB2019 to take place 2-4 October 2019

Though the location will remain under wraps for a few more months, we are pleased to announce the dates for VB2019, the 29th Virus Bulletin International Conference.
While we hope that you have already circled the dates of 3-5 October 2018 in your agendas, and that you will join us and security experts from around the world for VB2018 in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/save-dates-vb2019-take-place-2-4-october-2019/

Necurs update reminds us that the botnet cannot be ignored

The operators of the Necurs botnet, best known for being one of the most prolific spam botnets of the past few years, have pushed out updates to its client, which provide some important lessons about why malware infections matter.
If, at some point in the past few years, you have looked at a spam campaign in which a lot of emails were being sent from Vietnam or India, there's a good chance the spam was sent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/necurs-update-reminds-us-botnet-cannot-be-ignored/

Nominations opened for fifth Péter Szőr Award

Virus Bulletin has opened nominations for the fifth annual Péter Szőr Award, for the best piece of technical security research published between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018.
Virus Bulletin is seeking nominations for the fifth annual Péter Szőr Award. The award was inaugurated during the VB2014 conference, in honour of late security researcher and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/nominations-opened-fifth-peter-szor-award/

July

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/

.SettingContent-ms files remind us that it is features, not bugs we should be most concerned about

Security researcher Matt Nelson has discovered how .SettingContent-ms files can be embedded into Office files to deliver malware.
One of the most significant developments in the threat landscape in recent years has been the return of malicious Office macros, their resurgence having started four years ago.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/settingcontent-ms-files-remind-us-it-features-not-bugs-we-should-be-most-concerned-about/

We cannot ignore the increased use of IoT in domestic abuse cases

The New York Times reports that smart home devices are increasingly used in cases of domestic abuse.
Smart home technology is increasingly being used in domestic abuse cases. In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/we-cannot-ignore-increased-use-iot-domestic-abuse-cases/

Benefit now from early bird discount tickets for VB2018

If you want to come to VB2018 in Montreal this year (and why wouldn't you?) and want to save a bit on the ticket price (and why wouldn't you?), remember that early bird discounts will be available until 30 June.
In a little over three months, security experts from around the world will gather in Montreal for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference. We have an exciting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/last-week-buy-early-bird-discount-ticket-vb2018/

We are more ready for IPv6 email than we may think

Though IPv6 is gradually replacing IPv4 on the Internet's network layer, email is lagging behind, the difficulty in blocking spam sent over IPv6 cited as a reason not to move. But would we really have such a hard time blocking spam sent over IPv6?
In email security circles, IPv6 is the elephant in the room. While the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is a relatively smooth affair for most of the Internet, and few people will… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/we-are-more-ready-ipv6-email-we-may-think/

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

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.
As modern browsers have become harder to attack, malware authors have found a simple way around this: by working with the browser rather than against it. More particularly, by… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/subtle-change-could-see-reduction-installation-malicious-chrome-extensions/

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

We publish a paper by researchers from Quick Heal Security Labs in India, who study the EternalBlue and DoublePulsar exploits in full detail.
A little over a year ago, one of the defining security events of the decade occurred: the WannaCry outbreak. A damaging and destructive cyber attack that hit the UK's National… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/paper-eternalblue-prominent-threat-actor-20172018/

June

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/

'North Korea' a hot subject among VB2018 talks

Several VB2018 papers deal explicitly or implicitly with threats that have been attributed to North Korean actors.
A few years ago, I somehow got involved in the discussion of a run-of-the-mill malicious spam campaign and ended up speaking to a journalist from the Daily Telegraph. "Is it true… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/north-korea-hot-subject-among-vb2018-talks/

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

The domain of the little-used SpamCannibal DNS blacklist had expired, resulting in it effectively listing every single IP address.
The first line of defence in many a spam filter is to query one or more DNS blacklists to see if the sender's IP address (and sometimes their domain) is listed as a known spammer.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/expired-domain-led-spamcannibal-blacklisting-whole-world/

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