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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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ROPEMAKER email exploit is of limited practical use

Researchers at Mimecast have published a paper about the 'ROPEMAKER' exploit, which allows an email sender with malicious intentions to change the visial appearance of an email after it has been delivered.
Researchers at Mimecast have published details (pdf) of an email exploit they call 'ROPEMAKER' (short for 'Remotely Originated Post-delivery Email Manipulation Attacks Keeping… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/ropemaker-email-exploit-limited-practical-use/

VB2017 preview: Mariachis and jackpotting: ATM malware from Latin America

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Kaspersky Lab researchers Thiago Marques and Fabio Assolini in which they look at malware targeting ATMs in Latin America.
A few years ago, I saw an ATM being opened for the first time. "Hold on," I thought, "this is really just a Windows XP PC!" Suddenly, I realised that, to attack an ATM,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-mariachis-and-jackpotting-atm-malware-latin-america/

VB2017 preview: Stuck between a ROC and a hard place

We preview the VB2017 paper by Microsoft's Holly Stewart and Joe Blackbird, which uses data about users switching anti-virus provider to decide whether machine-learning models should favour avoiding false positives over false negatives.
Authors of security software in general, and anti-virus software in particular, have always needed to find the right balance between a high detection rate and a low false positive… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-stuck-between-roc-and-hard-place/

VB2017 preview: Consequences of bad security in health care

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Jelena Milosevic, an ICU nurse by profession, who will provide the audience with an inside view of security in hospitals.
Earlier this month, at the SHA2017 hacking camp, among the professional hackers and security experts, there was one speaker with a rather unconventional CV: Jelena Milosevic's day… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-consequences-bad-security-health-care/

VB2017 Small Talk: The encryption vs. inspection debate

At VB2017, Cloudflare's Head of Cryptography Nick Sullivan will give a Small Talk on the intercepting of HTTPS connections by proxies and anti-virus software.
We all know that security often gets in the way of convenience, but sometimes security even gets in the way of security. This is the case, for example, when a decision needs to be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-small-talk-encryption-vs-inspection-debate/

Throwback Thursday: Ten memorable Virus Bulletin conference presentations - part 2

In the second part of this two-part blog series, we look at five more memorable Virus Bulletin conference presentations.
With an excellent conference programme featuring some of the top experts in the IT security industry and covering some of the most important topics, we have much to look forward… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/throwback-thursday-ten-memorable-virus-bulletin-conference-presentations-part-2/

Five tips for submitting to Calls for Papers

With the VB2017 Call for Papers out, here are five tips to increase your chances of getting your submission accepted.
Two weeks ago, we opened the call for last-minute papers for VB2017. Like most CPFs, the number of submissions will far exceed the number of available slots. There is no golden… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/five-tips-submitting-calls-papers/

The WannaCry kill switch wasn't inserted to make someone a hero

Following the arrest of WannaCry hero Marcus Hutchings, suggestions have been made that he was behind the WannaCry malware itself, and that he inserted the kill switch to make himself a hero. This seems highly unlikely.
Almost three months after its damaging outbreak, the WannaCry malware remains shrouded in mystery. Last week's arrest of security researcher Marcus Hutchings, better known and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/wannacry-kill-switch-wasnt-inserted-make-someone-hero/

Throwback Thursday: Ten memorable Virus Bulletin conference presentations - part 1

In a two-part blog post series, we look back at ten memorable VB conference presentations from the past ten years.
With an excellent conference programme (and still some gaps to fill!), we have much to look forward to when it comes to VB2017, the 27th Virus Bulletin conference. But we also… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/throwback-thursday-ten-memorable-virus-bulletin-conference-presentations-part-1/

Worms wiggling inside your networks are a lot harder to stop

The authors of the Trickbot banking trojan seem to have taken note of the use of SMB by WannaCry and (Not)Petya and have added an (experimental) module that uses SMB for lateral movement.
Damaging though they were, the recent WannaCry and (Not)Petya outbreaks taught security practitioners many valuable lessons. Unfortunately, they taught important lessons to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/worms-wiggling-inside-your-networks-are-lot-harder-stop/

August

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/

VB2017 drinks reception to be hosted in Madrid's unique Geographic Club

To give those attending VB2017 Madrid a chance to experience a little bit of the host city, the VB2017 drinks reception will be held at the unique and fascinating Geographic Club.
When, at the end of VB2016, we announced Madrid as the location for VB2017, the cheering from the audience suggested that it was a popular choice. This is understandable of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-drinks-reception-be-hosted-geographic-club/

By removing VPNs from its Chinese App Store, Apple turns its biggest security asset against its users

To comply with Chinese laws, Apple has removed all iOS VPN apps from its Chinese app store. This means that the company uses iOS's strongest security asset, its tightly controlled App Store, against its own users.
A little over a month ago, Apple's iPhone celebrated its tenth birthday. The iPhone has been one of the biggest commercial success stories ever, but it has also been a great… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/removing-vpns-its-chinese-app-store-apple-turns-its-biggest-security-asset-aggasnt-its-users/

VB2017 Small Talks and reserve papers announced

Today we announce the first two Small Talks for the VB2017 programme: ENISA will provide its perspective on the WannaCry outbreak and the lessons learned from it, while David Harley will talk about the past and present of security product testing.
Today, we are pleased to announce the first two Small Talks for the VB2017 programme. The 'Small Talks' were first introduced as a third stream at the VB Conference in 2015,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/small-talks-and-reserve-papers-announced-vb2017-programme/

NoMoreRansom's first birthday demonstrates importance of collaboration

This week the NoMoreRansom project celebrated its first birthday. It has already helped many victims of ransomware with advice and tools and is an excellent example of collaboration between private and public partners in IT security.
This week, the NoMoreRansom project celebrates its first anniversary and can look back to subtle but important successes in the fight against ransomware. The advice from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/nomoreransoms-first-birthday-shows-importance-collaboration/

VB2017 call for last-minute papers opened

Today, we open the call for last-minute papers for VB2017. Submit before 3 September to have your abstract considered for one of the ten slots reserved for 'hot' research.
UPDATE 4 Sept 2017: Please note that the call for last-minute papers for VB2017 has now closed. Virus Bulletin has opened the call for last-minute papers for VB2017. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/vb2017-call-last-minute-papers-opened/

Five reasons to come to VB2017 in Madrid

We're not ones to make bold claims about our conference, and we suggest you ask past attendees for their opinion, but here are five reasons why we think you should come to VB2017 in Madrid.
I regularly use this blog to add nuance to bold claims about dangerous vulnerabilities or impressive claims about security solutions – something that I think befits an independent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/five-reasons-come-vb2017-madrid/

DMARC: an imperfect solution that can make a big difference

US Senator Ron Wyden has asked the Department of Homeland Security to implement DMARC. Martijn Grooten looks at what difference this could make for phishing attacks impersonating the US federal governent.
US Senator Ron Wyden has written a letter (pdf) to the Department of Homeland Security, urging the US government to implement DMARC to "ensure hackers cannot send emails that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/dmarc-imperfect-solution-can-make-big-difference/

Advanced and inept persistent threats to be discussed at VB2017

Unsurprisingly given today's threat landscape, the VB2017 programme contains several talks on various advanced persistent threats - but also a talk on what may be the polar opposite of such threats: an inept persistent threat.
Only a few years ago, "APT" (advanced persistent threat) was a buzzword mostly heard being bandied around at security exhibitions to sell even more advanced technology to prevent,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/advanced-and-inept-persistent-threats-be-discussed-vb2017/

Password security is 1% choosing a half-decent password, 99% not using it anywhere else

Password security advice focuses too much on password strength and too little on avoiding password reuse, Martijn Grooten argues.
It is a truth generally acknowledged that there is no such thing as absolute security. Security is always a compromise with usability, and good security is about finding the right… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/password-security-1-choosing-half-decent-password-99-not-using-it-anywhere-else/

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